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Hulda
Member Since: 12/17/2006 12:36:44 PMLast Seen: 12/1/2008 2:26:38 PM
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Posted 4/12/2008 12:44:18 AM
Did Jesus claim to be God?This question was posed to me last year by a fellow Newblogger. When I first explained that the Bible demonstrates Christ's deity throughout both Old and New Testaments, he reiterated the question: did Jesus HIMSELF claim to be God? Posed like this, it's a trick question. If we discount the claims of the apostles – if we believe the Gospel-writers put words in Jesus's mouth after His death and/or that the New Testament account has been altered -- how can anyone know what Jesus said or didn't say? Unless you believe the Bible, this question can't be answered, since the only place Jesus's words are recorded is in the New Testament. If, however, you choose to believe that both Testaments are the reliable Word of God and that they remain substantively unaltered today, I can answer with certainty. Not only did Jesus claim to be God, but His opponents knew that He claimed this; that's why they were so riled up. Under Hebrew law, the penalty for such blasphemy was death. They didn't call for His execution over hurt feelings a petty theological dispute, but over this, the most fundamental of all issues. Was Jesus God? The religious leaders in Israel didn't think so. The Romans didn't think so. Most of the people in that day didn't think so. But what did Jesus Himself think? John 1:1 is sometimes offered as the end-of-discussion proof text: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." However, this doesn't answer the pointed question (Did JESUS claim to be God?), because it is the Gospel writer's opinion, not a quote from Jesus Himself. Furthermore, at least one (mis)translation of the Bible sticks the little word "a" in there before the last "God" and changes the capital "G" to lowercase. This alteration is unsupported ANY Greek text, and, of course, it changes the meaning altogether. The discussion of this verse then becomes a debate about Bible translations, and that's not the question. So we'll leave that verse alone for these purposes. Before we move forward, let's back up a bit and set the stage for Jesus' arrival on the scene, so when we look at His words, we can understand His claims as His contemporaries did. The Jewish people considered themselves the children of Jehovah, the One True God. He had called them out of Egypt, delivering them with many big-time miracles. He supernaturally provided for them in the wilderness, gave them His Law, and made glorious promises to them through the prophets. Many of those promises involved the Messiah, or "Anointed One." For centuries, God had been promising to send them a deliverer, a redeemer, a King. They hadn't seen Him yet, but they never stopped hoping. They had all sorts of preconceived ideas of what this Messiah would look like; and for many people, Jesus didn't meet their expectations, so they refused to believe He was the one they were looking for. Just what WERE they looking for? The prophet Isaiah promised in Isaiah 9:6-7: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called wonderful Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace…." Familiar words. We often see them on Christmas cards. They're referenced in the New Testament as applying to Jesus (see, for example, Luke 2:11, John 3:16, Matthew 28:18). But take a look at how this One who was to come is described in the middle of verse 6: "The mighty GOD. The everlasting FATHER." This would be no ordinary child; this would be God Himself. The prophet Micah prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. The Hebrew priests and scholars all knew this – see Matthew 2:1-6, where, when asked by Herod where the Messiah would be born, they quoted Micah 5:2: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, FROM EVERLASTING." This would be no mere man, but the Eternal God. Isaiah foretold not only Christ's coming, but also John the Baptist's. In Isaiah 40:3 he announced, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." No one disputes that this speaks of John the Baptist, whose purpose was to announce the coming of Christ. But the Hebrew word translated "LORD" here, whose way John prepared, is "Jehovah." John came to prepare the way for the coming of Jehovah, for "our God." But when Jesus came on the scene, growing up in the nowhere town of Nazareth, preaching meekness and submission and wielding no political or military clout, it was hard to see Him as God. So the leaders questioned Him, trying to get Him to declare Himself. And He did. Take a look at John 8:12-59. It's a long passage, but He makes His claim to deity without any ifs, ands or buts. It culminates in the astonishing statement in verse 58 in which He declares that He is eternal, and identifies Himself in the same terminology God used when He identified Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:13-14: "I AM." That's why, in verse 59, they wanted to stone Him. He was either God in the flesh, or a blasphemer of the worst degree; and since they refused to accept first, they had to conclude He was the latter. But because He WAS God, they had no power over Him. He blinded their eyes so that they couldn't see Him, and walked out from the midst of their upraised stones, unharmed. Did Jesus say he was God? Absolutely. Does God say Jesus is God? Absolutely. As I read through the Bible this year looking for appearances of Christ in the Old Testament, I find this everywhere. I'm amazed how often I've overlooked it before. The Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Christ of the New. The passages I've shared here today barely touch the surface. If you'd like to see more, let me know. The Bible's full of them.
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Posted 4/12/2008 12:37:31 AM
...just off the face of Newblog. Hulda hangs her head in shame -- she is a wicked, wicked person for ignoring all friends. No excuses, I'm just a lazy bum. Yes, I've been busy, but I could make an appearance every once in awhile! Not that anyone cares, probably, but I tonight I finally got around to writing that post I promised last time I was here. I'll put it up in a moment. First, though, I wanted to say Hi, and apologize for being absent all this time. It's good to see y'all are still around. Now on to my main post...
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Posted 1/13/2008 7:59:55 PM
13 Genesis 39-4314 Genesis 44-50 (Notice God's appearance to Jacob in 46:2-4. What Jacob saw in this vision was the pre-incarnate Christ.) 15 Exodus 1-4 (Note chapter 3, and 4:1-17.) 16 Exodus 5-8 (Several times in these chapters we see God's Word to Moses and Aaron. They had an intimate relationship with Him, which we can also have today when we humble ourselves before Him, yield ourselves to His Word, and respond in faith when He speaks.) 17 Exodus 9-12 (Again we see the Word of God to Moses.) 18 Exodus 13-16 (Notice the pillar of cloud/flame first seen in 13:21-22. This is also an appearance of Christ, being described as "the angel of God" in 14:19, a phrase that often refers to Christ. Later, in 23:20-23, God refers to this "Angel" as "him"). 19 Exodus 17-19 (In chapter 19, God called to Moses, appeared to all Israel in a cloud and in thunder, lightning, and the loud sound of a trumpet, as well as by voice. God came down upon Mount Sinai and met with Moses. All of these are manifestations of Christ.)
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Posted 1/11/2008 8:04:05 PM
So how are y'all doing? Is anybody reading through the Bible with me? If so, you've seen several appearances of Jesus in the Old Testament since we last discussed it. One of the most obvious was last week, in 18:1-33, when "three men" appeared to Abraham. Their appearance was human, but one of those individuals was Christ, and the other two were angels. How do we know that? Because it says so plainly, in verse 1: "The LORD appeared unto him…" In verse 15, "and God said to Abraham…" In verse 18, "And Abraham said unto God…" And we know this was the pre-incarnate Christ rather than God the Father, because John 1:18 tells us that no one has ever seen the Father at any time, just the Son. (We see the other two "men" described as angels in the next chapter.)God also spoke to Abimelech king of Gerar in 20:3-7, to Hagar in 21:17, and to Rebekah in 25:22-23. But one of the strangest appearances of Christ is found in 32:24-30, when Jacob physically wrestled with Him. So we see the Old Testament referring to Jesus a number of ways, including "the LORD" and God. "Wait a minute," you might be thinking. "I didn't think Jesus and God were the same thing. Wasn't Jesus supposed to be the SON of God, not God Himself?" It's hard for us mortal beings to understand, but Jesus is both. He's not both the Son and the Father, but He is both the Son and God. Clear as mud? It goes back to the concept of the Trinity, mentioned in my first post this year. Here's another illustration: I am not my right hand, but when you see my right hand, you're seeing me. If my right hand touches you, you've been touched by me, but my right hand isn't all the "me" there is. When God speaks, He speaks through the Son; Jesus is the part of Himself through whom He communicates; when God appears to mankind, it's in the Person of Jesus. But Jesus isn't all the God there is. Last year I was asked a question by a fellow Newblogger: "Did Jesus claim to be God?" I answered that gentleman's question by private message at the time, but I'll answer it here in my next post. In the meantime, have a great weekend, everybody!
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Posted 1/8/2008 4:41:15 PM
You might have looked at Genesis 5 a few days ago, read about the long lives of the people listed, thought, "Yeah, sure," and moved on. All this bit about people living for hundreds of years and having children when they're several centuries old is a tad hard to swallow. I mean, look, we're the best-fed people the earth's ever seen, we know about nutrition and sanitation, we have sophisticated medical knowledge, life expectancies are rising all the time, but we never see anyone living much past 100. How am I supposed to believe the Bible when it says all this stuff that obviously can't be true?Good question. I'm glad you asked. The geological and scriptural evidence both tend to indicate that prior to the Flood of Genesis 6, the earth's atmosphere was entirely different from what it is now. Most likely, a canopy of water vapor surrounded the world, filtering the sun's rays and preventing its damaging effects from hitting the surface. It also regulated the temperature to where there was only one climate everywhere, and that a comfortable, semi-tropical one. And, there was no rain. As Genesis 2:5-6 says, "…for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth… but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground." In this healthy environment with constant temperature and humidity, the vegetation was lush and nutritious. The soil was still rich in every mineral, and chemical fertilizers were not only unheard-of, but unnecessary. Mankind hadn't been around long enough to develop genetic deficiencies, and without the damaging effects of short-wave radiation and other kinds of particles from the sun, the aging process took a much slower course than it does now. Not only does the Bible say so, but there's abundant scientific evidence to support this theory. The idea that people lived to be 900 years old isn't far-fetched at all when you consider the way the human body is designed to renew itself, replacing the aging cells on a regular schedule. It's no coincidence, then, that after that protective blanket of water vapor was removed (where do you think those 40 days and 40 nights of rain came from?) in Genesis 6-7, mankind's lifespan began to decline. Noah lived 950 years, but the scriptural record shows his descendants dying much sooner: his great-grandson Salah lived only 433 years (Genesis 11:14-15); Salah's grandson, Peleg, died at 239 (Genesis 11:18-19), and four generations after that, Abraham's grandfather Nahor only made it to 148. Though we don't have the statistics for everyone who ever lived, of course, there's no scriptural record of anyone exceeding 200 years after Abraham's father, Terah. By the time we get to David's day, life expectancy was only about 70 years (Psalm 90:10), though then, as now, people often exceeded that. If mankind did, in fact, live for centuries back then, this opens up some interesting possibilities, but I won't get into that right now. Think about it, though. How much knowledge could a man acquire in six or seven or eight hundred years? How much could he discover, and invent, and build? If a man was young and vigorous for centuries, he'd be almost god-like, and the possibilities before him would be nearly limitless. Under the circumstances, it seems pretty arrogant of us to think that our knowledge and technology and capabilities are superior to that of the ancients. I suspect that some of the people we like to think of as grunting cavemen were actually much more sophisticated than we are. (How much of OUR technology might remain to impress our descendants thousands of years from now – especially if everything were wiped out in a flood?) Just wanted to throw that out there as food for thought. And while you're thinking about that, consider this not-quite-but-almost-unrelated quote by Kevin Kelly, concluding the article, "What We Don't Know About…" in the February 2007 issue (the one with John Hodgman on the cover) of Wired magazine: "The paradox of science is that every answer breeds at least two new questions. More answers mean even more questions, expanding not only what we know but also what we don't know. Every new tool for looking farther or deeper or smaller allows us to spy into our own ignorance. Future technologies such as artificial intelligence, controlled fusion, and quantum computing (to name a few on the near horizon) will change the world – that means the biggest questions have yet to be answered." (Interesting article, by the way – check it out.) (And yes, medieval though I am, I DO read Wired magazine.) So what's my point? Same as always. We don't know everything, but God does. When in doubt, trust Him. He's not going to lie to you.
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Posted 1/6/2008 9:38:21 AM
Jan 6 Genesis 16-19Jan 7 Genesis 20-23 Jan 8 Genesis 24-26 Jan 9 Genesis 27-29 Jan10 Genesis 30-32 Jan 11 Genesis 33-35 Jan 12 Genesis 36-38
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Posted 1/4/2008 1:04:54 PM
I don't figure too many people are reading through the Bible with me in 2008, but for anyone who is: are you finding Christ in these first few chapters of the Old Testament? If not, that's because you're not looking in the right places! We already saw that Jesus the Word of God, so whenever we see the phrase "God said," we know we're seeing Jesus at work. Other than what we already discussed on January 1, so far we've seen Jesus speaking to man in Genesis 4:9 and 15; 6:13-22; 7:1; 9:1, 8, 12, 17; and 12:1 and 7. These all document the Word of God to given to man prior to His incarnation AS a man. Not only do we see a record of the pre-incarnate Jesus speaking to man, but in 6:13-22 we also see a PICTURE of Jesus, namely the ark. It illustrates the New Testament truth of mankind's redemption in Christ. If anyone would be rescued from the Flood of God's wrath, they'd have to enter the ark; in the same way in this age, only those who are in Christ at the time of God's judgment will be saved. All who were outside the ark, and all who are outside of a saving relationship with Christ, will be swept away without hope or recourse. Those in the ark, who represent those who are in Christ, are only there because of God's grace (verse 8) and their obedience to God's word – and, as illustrated by the animals, because of the Holy Spirit drawing them. Noah built the ark in faith and according to God's exact specifications, not his own plans or ideas of how it should be done. We come to Christ the same way; we must come in faith, and we must come His way rather than our own. (Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.") Abram's encounter with God in Genesis 12:1-7 was hugely significant, not just for Abram, but for the whole world, as this event marked the beginnings of Judaism and the Hebrew people. Abram must have sensed the importance of this, because he built an altar there (we'll see that altar again tomorrow, in 13:4). But what does all that have to do with Jesus? Lots. Let's take a look. First Abram heard the voice of God. We're not told if this was in a dream or how he came to hear it, but Abram pulled up stakes and moved from his ancestral home at the age of 75 years old because of what God told him; and what He told him involved Christ, who would one day be the source of blessing for everyone on the earth, verse 3. Then in verse 7 Abram saw the appearance of God. Whenever God appeared to man in the Old Testament, the One that person saw was Jesus. We know this because Paul wrote in both II Corinthians 4:4 and Colossians 1:15 that Jesus "is the image of the invisible God." Also see John 1:18, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." I know I said I wasn't going to always write on the topic we're reading about. But that doesn't mean I NEVER will! Maybe next time I'll talk about something else entirely. But there's nothing more worth talking about than Jesus Christ, and there's no better place to find Him than in the Scriptures.
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Posted 1/1/2008 8:53:00 AM
Happy New Year to my Newblog family!You'll notice this post looks different, and there's a reason for that – I've decided to do something different. Although I hope you'll continue reading through the Bible with me this year, I'm not going to write a commentary each day's reading. That was fun, but it was too time-consuming on my part to continue into 2008. This year my posts will be less regular and won't necessarily be on the subject we're reading about in the Bible. Nevertheless, I hope you'll keep up with the reading schedule. Last year we focused on what the Bible said about itself. This year, let's search the Old Testament for appearances of Christ; and when we get to the New Testament, let's look for quotes from the Old Testament. It's an eye-opening study for those who believe the Old Testament isn't relevant for a Christ-follower. As Paul said in II Timothy 3:16, "ALL scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable…" As you read through the first three chapters of Genesis today, notice the first verse: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." It's not apparent in any English translation, but the original Hebrew word for "God" in this verse is a plural word, Elohim. That indicates that God, though One, is also plural; that is, right from the beginning we're put on notice of the fact of the Trinity. If you have difficulty understanding how God can be both One and Three at the same time, look at it this way: To my husband, I'm a wife, with all that entails; to my father, I'm a daughter; to my children, I'm Mom; my grandchildren see me as yet another entity, and my employer sees me in still a different light; I am all those things simultaneously, though I'm one person. But beyond that, being created in God's own image, I'm also a triune being: I have a body, a mind, and a spirit, each of which has different powers and characteristics, but it's all me, and I'm not fully me if any one of those aspects is missing. (Notice Genesis 1:26-27, where God says, "Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness…" We are triune beings, because He is.) So when Elohim created the heavens and the earth, He was One God, but He was three-in-one. We see the Son, the Word, was active in creation, in verses 3, 6, 9, 11, 14 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, etc. – that is, every time we see "God said," that was God's Word at work. And we know the identity of that Word because the Spirit inspired John to tell us, in John 1:1-3, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." And again in John 1:14, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." The Word Who spoke the world into existence, then, was the same Person as the Baby in the manger, whose birth we just celebrated at Christmas. We also see Christ in Genesis 1:4, when God introduced light into His creation on the very first day, though He didn't create the sun, moon and stars until the fourth day, verses 14-18. The source of light before Day 4 was Christ Himself – see John 1:4-10: "In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not." Also, remember what we read yesterday in Revelations 21:23? In the New Jerusalem there will be no need of sun or moon, "for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." We can see, therefore, that Christ was active in Creation – and in the Scriptures – from the very beginning. We also see the phrase "God said" once or twice in chapter 2. But in chapter 3 we find something really interesting: in verse 8, Adam and Eve heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. How can a voice walk? It can't, unless it's the voice of Jehovah, in which case it's Christ the Word. Finally, in verse 15 we see the first prophecy of Christ in the enmity between the "seed of the woman" and the serpent, and the promise that although the serpent will bruise His heel (with nails through His feet on the cross), He would crush the serpent's head. We just saw this reiterated in the book of Revelations. Truly, the Bible is consistent, complete, and uncontradictory. Let's walk through it together this year. You might not be hearing from me every day, but please don't let that keep you from hearing from God every day.
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Posted 12/30/2007 5:58:54 PM
December 31, 2007Read Revelations 21-22 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2021-022&version=9 The final, massive clash between the forces of God and the armies of the Devil that we read about yesterday in chapter 21 will likely cause unfathomable destruction, because here in chapter 21, John sees God creating not only a new earth, but new heavens as well. In the Millennium, Christ reigned from His throne in Jerusalem, and in the new earth, he'll reign in the New Jerusalem. We'll sometimes hear that phrase used to describe something mankind brings about by his good works and devotion to the faith, but clearly, the New Jerusalem is a supernatural creation of God. At that time, it would appear, the temple we saw in Heaven in 11:19 and 15:5-8 comes to this new earth and will be the residence of Christ in the New Jerusalem (21:3-7), where no evil will be permitted to enter. We see a description of that city in 21:10-27 and 22:1-5, most of which is unfathomable to our mortal minds. In 22:6-21, John is told that he should not seal up these prophecies (as was sometimes the case when a man was given a vision or revelation – see, for instance, Daniel 12:9 and II Corinthians 12:4), but should publish them so that all people will know what's coming. There's much we can't understand, but God doesn't want to keep us in the dark about what we need to do. As Peter said in this context, God withholds His judgment for a time in order to give as many people as possible the opportunity to repent, and to be saved, and not perish in the judgment (II Peter 3:8-13). That's why the invitation is given here in 21:17, "Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." The warnings in verses 18-19 about changing, adding or deleting anything from this book have been taken by some to cover all the Scriptures. I believe, of course, that God frowns on mankind perverting His Word, but I don't believe these specific warnings should be applied to anything other than the words of this book. Nevertheless, God makes it quite clear that He wants all mankind to know what the stakes are here, and He doesn't want anyone to water down His warnings or sugarcoat the truth to make it more palatable. The things John describes are more horrible than we can wrap our minds around, and it's a temptation to disbelieve them. But we need to understand that God isn't Santa Claus. Children are told, "You'd better be good, because if you're naughty, Santa won't come." But children whose parents can afford lavish gifts receive lots from Santa no matter how bad they are, and children in less affluent circumstances receive little or nothing no matter how good they are; and thanks to the mingling of the myths of Christmas with the reality of Christ, we're trained early in life to equate Santa with Jesus. We're led to believe it's all a nice story, but God really doesn't deliver on His promises any more than Santa Claus does. And that is one of the most grievous lies of the enemy, the father of lies. Instead of listening to his whispers in your heart, remember the last words of Christ -- who cannot lie -- to man, in verse 20: "Surely I come quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
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Posted 12/29/2007 6:20:27 PM
December 30, 2007Read Revelations 18-19 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2018-019&version=9 In chapter 18 we see the final demise of "Babylon," the embodiment of spiritual deception and false religion. When you consider that this anti-Jehovah power has been at work since the Garden, wreaking death, fratricide (Genesis 4:1-8), chaos, slavery, poverty, despair and every sort of human suffering and atrocity against God's creation, the words in 21,"…that great city Babylon will be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all," express an amazing truth that moves heaven and earth. That is, in that act – in the destruction of "Babylon" once and for all –the world as we know it will come to an end. It will be like a spiritual earthquake, where the foundation of everything the material world is built upon will be pulled up from under it, and all that will remain is God's eternal, unshakable truth. Unfortunately, this victory can only come through great destruction, and many unwitting souls will be caught in the crossfire and pulled into the vortex. That's why the voice from heaven calls out in verse 4, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Because there are now and will then be many in the ungodly religious system that is called Babylon, true seekers of God, true followers of Christ, who like some of the Jews who in Jesus' day worshipped Him in secret for fear of being ostracized by the religious establishment. (For instance, Nicodemus, the rabbi who come to Jesus by night in John 3:1-21 to void the censure of his peers, and Joseph of Arimathaea in John 19:38, who was a disciple of Jesus "but secretly for fear of the Jews.") Here in verse 4, Heaven urges those who follow Christ but for the sake of tradition, safety, family harmony, or whatever, remain within a religion that teaches and promotes unscriptural beliefs and practices, to separate themselves before it's too late. On earth, the unspeakable is happening and people all over the globe are wailing and mourning for themselves and for everything they hold near and dear. But in chapter 19, John shows us that in heaven, everyone's rejoicing at very thing the earth mourns for; because all that choose to love the world make themselves the enemies of God (I John 2:15, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Also see James 4:4, "…know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?...") In 19:7-10 John tells of the ultimate wedding, to which all who have followed Christ are called. In verses 11-21 the Bridegroom, Who, like the bridegroom in the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament is the King, leaves heaven and returns to earth to take back that which was His from the beginning. Before Solomon's day, David sang about this event in Psalm 19:1-6: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork… In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." In that Psalm, David went on to praise that which alone can save a mortal from the heat of that Sun, namely, the Word of God: "The Law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether." David shows the contrast between the Truth of God and the "truth" that the world trusts in, in the next verses: "More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward." Why do I quote Genesis and Psalms and the Song of Solomon at the end of the world? Because Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, which is and was, and is to come (1:8, 17-18). The story of the Bible is not primarily the story of man, but of Christ. The events foretold in the Revelations were in His heart and mind when He spoke the world into existence. We didn't create this planet, nor the universe in which it exists; we have neither the power nor the authority to rule it, to destroy it, or to save it. The only choice we have is whether to submit ourselves to its Creator and live forever with Him as His beloved, or to be destroyed with His enemies. Revelations 19:11-21 outlines a theme that has served as the foundation of epic poems, fairy tales, dramas, love stories, and action scenes from the earliest record of man's literary endeavors – that of the triumph of Good over Evil; the return of the Rightful King taking vengeance on all who have been mistreating His people; the captive damsel rescued from the clutches of the dastardly villain by her perfect lover. We can't understand every aspect of these Revelations, but even the most simple-minded of us can grasp the main thing God wants us all to see: that is, all the fantasies our hearts hold dear are eclipsed by that which is true, and eternal, and more certain than our minds and memories and experiences. The consequences of ignoring God's warnings are too horrible to contemplate; but the rewards of trusting His Word are too wonderful to be expressed in terms we mortals can comprehend. All the physical evidence, the historical record, the deepest longings of our hearts, and most importantly, the sworn testimony of God Himself, tell us that these things are true and immutable. It would be illogical – and tragic – to ignore the facts. If you're not on the invitation list for the marriage supper of the Lamb, it's still not too late. Come to Him, and He'll robe you with the fine, white linen of the righteousness of the saints. It will be splattered and torn during the rest of your journey in this filthy world; but you'll receive a new garment, bright and clean, whole and gleaming, when you finally enter His presence. In 20:1-7, the entire 1,000-year of Christ's reign on earth for which the world has been waiting for millennia, is summed up in a mere seven verses from start to finish. We think of that time as the climax, the end, the grand finale of everything God has been doing on the earth since He established mankind upon it; but that's only partly true. We know that the cosmic battle between good and evil began before the earth was formed (when Lucifer tried to be like God); and here in 20:7-10 we learn that after the Millennium, he'll have one more frolic before he's finished for good. In this passage, mankind will have been living in peace and harmony on the earth under the righteous rule of Christ the King for a thousand years, which is like forever, from a human point of view. At that time people won't be perfect, but the evil influences of this present era will have been done away with, and government will be just and righteous because it will be conducted under the authority of the Righteous Judge. We're not talking about people sitting around on clouds playing harps all day, but rather, a Utopian world in which people are free to go about their daily lives without interference from the devil and his imps. We can't know why, but according to this passage, at the end of the thousand years, God will loose Satan from hell where he's been confined, to deceive the earth once again. And although humanity has been living the life of Riley for generations, when the Evil One offers them a "better" way many will foolishly accept it, much as Adam and Eve, who had everything in Eden but wanted more. This will create a massive rebellion on earth – much as Lucifer's rebellion in heaven – and the devil and all who believed his lies will be permanently destroyed. This includes, as we see in verses 11-15, not only those who followed him in this last rebellion after the Millennium, but those whom he'd seduced in generations past. At what's called the "Great White Throne Judgment," all who ever lived will be judged according to whether or not they'd followed the Lord in their lifetimes. This is the great separating of the sheep and the goats that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 25:31-46. Our disposition on that day will be determined by the decisions we make THIS day; we won't have a thousand years to think about it. The facts are laid out before us now, and we have only one lifetime in which to decide what to do with them (Hebrews 9:27-28, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.")
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Posted 12/29/2007 6:19:41 PM
December 30, 2007Read Revelations 18-19 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2018-019&version=9 December 31, 2007 Read Revelations 21-22 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2021-022&version=9 January 1, 2008 -- Read Genesis 1-3 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2001-003&version=9 Jan 2 -- Genesis 4-6 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2004-006&version=9 Jan 3 -- Genesis 7-9 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2007-009&version=9 Jan 4 -- Genesis 10-12 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2010-012&version=9 Jan 5 -- Genesis 13-15 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2013-015&version=9
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Posted 12/28/2007 9:13:51 PM
December 29, 2007Read Revelations 16-17 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2016-017&version=9 In chapter 16, the seven vials of God's wrath are poured out upon the earth, and everyone who has taken the mark of the beast (verse 2) is afflicted. You might notice similarities between all these plagues in Revelations and those that God had appointed for Egypt in Exodus 7-10. Both in Moses' day and in the Tribulation, those who are God's people are spared the brunt of it, and those who rebel against Him will harden their hearts and refuse to repent. Verses 5-7 remind us of God's oft-quoted promise in Deuteronomy 32:35, that "To me [God] belongeth vengeance, and recompense…" For millennia, evil has had the upper hand on this planet, and God has comforted His people with the assurance that He'd take care of it; we need to be patient and let Him deal with it in His own time. We enjoy movies where the good guy wins and gets his revenge, or where the bad guy's schemes backfire and he falls into the pit he dug for someone else. Here in Revelations 16 we see all this literally coming to pass on a global scale; and the havoc depicted by the wildest Hollywood action flick will seem like the fall of a stack of child's blocks in comparison. As God keeps reminding us and I keep pointing out, we don't know when all this will occur (verse 15), but we can be certain it will. In chapter 17, God gets His revenge against Babylon, who has been responsible for the slaughter of His people since the dawn of history. She's worn many faces, but she's always been the strange woman who lures people into her web of false religion (or an equally false non-religion) with enticing lies and sensual temptations. Beginning with Satan's whispers in Eve's ear that if she tasted the beautiful, forbidden fruit she would be like God (Genesis 3:1-6), Satan has been the beast this woman rides upon to enslave the world through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (I John 2:16-17), and has brought suffering and death to all who dared to scorn her charms. In these last days she sits upon the seat of Satan (Revelations 2:13) in Rome, historically called the "city of seven hills" (verse 9), arrayed in splendid garments and possessing more wealth than any nation. She blasphemously declares her idolatrous ways are the true path to God, and contemptuously condemns any who reject her claims and hold fast to the authority of the Scriptures. Most who are caught by her wiles are ignorant of the truth, and she likes to keep it that way; but despite her often benign appearance, she is responsible for the death of many millions of Christ-followers down through the ages and has never so much as made an apology for that. She will have her final comeuppance at Armageddon (16:16-17) when God finally says, "All right! Enough!" The fact that so many people are unwittingly drawn into the web of deceit of this Christian-sounding but truth-denying religion makes the matter all the more serious, and should give us a sense of urgency. We have only a limited time in which to grasp them with love and compassion and pull them out of the fire (Jude 23).
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Posted 12/28/2007 6:07:20 AM
December 28, 2007Read Revelations 14-15 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2014-015&version=9 In the last two chapters, John related the visions of what took place on earth. Now again he writes about what he saw going on in Heaven during that those events. One thing I'd like to point out is the reference to Babylon in 14:8. We see this ancient city mentioned several times throughout the book of Revelations, and if we had the time we could trace its symbolism from where it first appears in the Scriptures, in Genesis 11:1-9. But rather than go through a detailed explanation, I'll give you the short version. At times the Scriptures talk about the literal historical city of Babylon, but in other cases, Babylon represents the humanistic, false religion that first emerged after the Flood, as referenced in Genesis 11, in which mankind attempted to organize into a powerful world government that would usurp the authority of God. This was merely an imitation, of course, of what Lucifer tried to do as related in Isaiah 14:12-15. He hasn't given up – he is the "god" of humanism, and the one behind the Antichrist's near-success as we see prophesied in the Revelations. Between Genesis and Revelations, His devices are recognizable throughout scripture and world history, and we can know that whenever we see them, he's behind them, no matter what sort of disguise he might put on. The manifestation of "Babylon" in this book is identified in 17:1-6. She's the same "strange woman" of false religion we saw in the book of Proverbs, and the idolatrous and Jehovah-hating Jezebel of the Old Testament (we first see her in I Kings 16:19 and her influence continued long after her demise in II Kings 9:30-37). Note that this legacy of false religion even appears in the church, in Revelations 2:20-23. Finally, at the end of the Tribulation period as revealed here in chapter 14, we see that this dynasty will come to an end at last. For now, the world is in the grip of "Babylon," but we who follow Christ can be assured that her reign is NOT forever. Verses 11-13 remind us of that, and assure us that our patience will be rewarded. In verses 14-20 John watched while the iniquity of the world finally reached its peak and God declared it ripe for judgment. We might think, "I'm glad I won't be alive for that," but we'll read in 20:11-15 that death doesn't exempt us from God's judgment. In chapter 15, John introduces yet another sequence of events. The "vial judgments" may be a different perspective on what we've already read rather than a new series of disasters. Whatever the case, we again see the heavenly temple opened up, as we did in 11:19. Though the temple was opened, no one could enter until all the plagues of the Tribulation were ended. We'll read about that grand finale tomorrow.
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Posted 12/27/2007 7:39:19 AM
December 27, 2007Read Revelations 12-13 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%20012-013&version=9 First, John wrote about the opening of the seven seals; then, about the sounding of the seven trumpets. Some people believe that these aren't two separate, consecutive events, but are accounts of the same seven-year period described from two perspectives, much like Luke and John both wrote the story of Jesus' ministry but from different vantage points and for different audiences. That may very well be the case, but I can't say for sure. In any event, chapter 12 veers off on another path. Here John begins a short summary of world history from a heavenly perspective, rather than continuing chronologically after the events of chapter 11. The woman represents Israel (verse 1), who delivers the Messiah, her child (verse 2). The dragon (verse 3) is Lucifer, who in ages past led a revolt in Heaven in which a third of the angels were cast out with him, and he subsequently became known as Satan. He knew Israel would deliver a Redeemer, and stood ready to destroy Him when He came (verse 4), but God prevented it, verse 5. All that, of course, is ancient history. From verse 6 on, we get into future events. As is made evident elsewhere in the scriptures, during the Tribulation the believers in Israel will be forced to flee into the wilderness, verse 6, where they will be supernaturally provided for as God provided for them when He led them out of Egypt in Moses' day. We know from Job 1 and 2 and elsewhere that even after Lucifer's rebellion, he was still permitted to visit Heaven and speak to God. But here in verses 7-12 we learn that that will change. The time will come when he and his minions will be cast out of Heaven altogether, and he won't be able any longer to whisper in God's ear about our shortcomings (verse 10). I don't pretend to understand verse 11, but it would appear that the perseverance of the saints aided the labors of the angels (verse 7) to bring about this defeat. In Heaven, everyone will rejoice in this; but on earth, it spells disaster, because Satan will then be free to concentrate his full attention on wreaking his havoc there, before he's finished entirely, verse 12. I suspect that Satan's eviction from Heaven immediately precedes the Rapture – that is, once he's out, we're brought in. Verses 13-17 continue where verse 6 left off. Satan concentrates his attentions on destroying Israel, but no matter what he throws at her, God enables her to escape. Though Israel's history is already filled with terrible persecutions, the events these verses describe are still in the future. That is, the worst is yet to come. In chapter 13, the beast rising out of the sea is the Antichrist. In the Bible, the sea often represents the nations of the earth (verse 1). The Antichrist will arise from out there somewhere, an ordinary person who will be suddenly imbued with the power of Satan – indwelt by the unholy spirit, so to speak (verse 2). The deadly wound in verse 3 refers to the prophecy that an attempt will be made upon his life, but he will be miraculously saved. This will confirm in the minds of most of the world that he is the Christ (verse 4), and he'll act the part (verse 5), though blaspheming God and denying the Word of God with every breath (verse 6). His great power will make him appear to be invincible, and he'll wage war against the truth and those who follow it wherever he can find them (verse 7), thus securing his place in the people's hearts – all those, that is, whose minds are blinded to the truth because they didn't believe the truth when they had the chance (verse 8). We do have a chance now, verse 9, and would be wise to avail ourselves of it. We reap what we sow, verse 9. In verses 11-18 we see another manifestation of the Antichrist, who will appear to be a lamb but whose words are of the devil (verse 1) – a perfect description of one who is the antithesis of Christ. He will be able to perform all the miracles of the Bible, even to the calling down of fire from heaven, verse 13, and will convince those who don't know the truth that he is God, and worthy of their worship, verses 14-15. By his edict, those who refuse to worship him will be unable to buy or sell anything, verses 16-17. Many years ago the idea of this "mark of the beast" was scoffed at, but obviously, the technology to do this exists today, and it requires no stretch of the imagination to see how it could be done. So often the faithless laugh at God's Word, but always proves to be true after all. Be careful what you dismiss as impossible. The "number of the beast" in verses 17-18 has caused a lot of speculation over the years, but I don't believe anyone quite understands it. Numbers and numerology are prevalent throughout the Bible, and frequently they're the source of confusion. I have no head for numbers -- they make me break out in hives – and I've never studied the subject of biblical numerology in depth. But I do know that the number 7 in the Bible represents perfection and completion, and number 6 falls just short of that. As Paul pointed out in Romans 3:32, all mankind has sinned and falls short of the glory of God. This could be the basis of the number 6 representing humanity. Why 6 is repeated three times, I don't know, unless God's letting us know that this rebellion – following the Antichrist rather than the true Christ – is the final straw. Strike three, you're out. (II Thessalonians 2:10-12, "… because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved… that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.") I don't know, I'm just speculating. But one thing I do know for sure, and that is that now, the time in which we're living in the closing days of 2007 AD, God is merciful and gracious, and gives us every opportunity to escape His coming wrath. That door of opportunity will soon close, either as we take our last breath, or as these promised events begin to unfold, whichever comes first. That's why God so urgently warns us; because the only one who profits from our refusal of His grace is the devil. And even his pleasure in it will be short-lived.
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Posted 12/26/2007 7:49:29 AM
December 26, 2007Read Revelations 10-11 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2010-011&version=9 Just as there was a pause after the opening of the sixth seal in chapters 7-8, there is a pause after the sounding of the sixth trumpet. Here in chapter 10 we see another book – a small one this time. When it appears in the hand of a mighty angel, John hears the voices of seven thunders speaking things that he's forbidden to record. The earth isn't permitted to know those mysteries until we hear it from the angel himself in "real time," verses 4-7. John is then told to take the little book from the hand of the angel, and to eat it. When he did, it tasted sweet but turned bitter in his belly. The Word of God is, in fact, sweet, but some of the truths are hard to take; and that was apparently the case with what John learned from that book concerning what is to come. In chapter 11 we meet "the Two Witnesses," a couple of intriguing fellows who will appear on the scene during the Tribulation and will make quite a stir. Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins have fun with these characters in their "Left Behind" series, but how accurate their take is remains to be seen. These two men – believed by some (including me) to be Moses and Elijah returned to earth – will have the power to do miraculous things, and the Antichrist will have no power to stop them until they've finished the job God sent them there to do (verse 7). At that time they'll be killed, and all who follow the Antichrist will rejoice at their demise until God resurrects them after three and a half days and takes them bodily into heaven (verses 11-12), which event will be accompanied by a massive earthquake that will destroy part of the city of Jerusalem (verse 13). All this occurs before the 7th trumpet sounds. When that happens, in verses 15-19, the judgment of God will be upon all mankind, the living and the dead (verse 18), and – this is really interesting – the temple in Heaven will be opened, verse 19. Way back in Moses' day, God said that the tabernacle He told him to build was to be modeled on an actual temple that existed in Heaven; and he told David the same thing when he prepared the plans for the temple in Jerusalem. How physical this Heavenly temple is, no mortal can say; I honestly have no idea what John is talking about here. But it sure will be interesting to see it when it's finally revealed.
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Posted 12/24/2007 5:51:59 PM
December 25, 2007Read Revelations 8-9 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2008-009&version=9 Because we're reading through the Bible consecutively, today's post has little to do with Christmas. But as we saw on December 22, Christmas was never a Christian holiday at the beginning; it's merely the adaptation of a pagan festival to fit a Christian-looking framework. For many years I felt frustrated at how difficult it was to "keep Christ in Christmas." Once I realized the history of the holiday, it made sense. Why try to "keep" Him somewhere that He was never intended to be in the first place? Instead of beating my head against a wall, I look at Christmas as a family time. It's a pleasant holiday when we can come together, extend love toward others beyond our family, and invite people to consider the truth of Christ and thus become a part of God's family. And I wish all of you, my Newblog family, a blessed Christmas. Now back to Revelations. When Jesus opens the seventh seal, John says, silence reigns in Heaven for half an hour. I have no idea what that means, but whatever it signifies, the silence is eventually broken by the sounding of seven trumpets by seven angels. These trumpets announce the next aspects of the Tribulation, each of which is more horrible than the last. The first four sound bad enough, but in verse 13, an angel warns that the worst is yet to come. We can speculate all we want about what these symbols represent, but when the actual events occur, they probably won't look much like we envisioned. And they're likely to be far worse than anything our imaginations could conjure up. We can brush this all off as fairy tale or alarmist, fire-and-brimstone foolishness. But no one can deny that the world loves horror movies, and you have to ask yourself where all that creepy fiction comes from. Given the fact that humans seem to have a genetic predisposition to want to believe it and a fascination with the idea of other-worldly forces waging war in the world; and considering that every other prophecy that God has given in His Word, no matter how unlikely, has come to pass exactly like He said; it makes more sense to believe that these warnings are true than to reject them. We're always hearing dire predictions of this disaster or that, and are urged to change our attitudes and habits in order to avoid the terrible consequences. Whatever you may believe about global warming, we can be absolutely certain that the world's going to get real hot, real soon, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. We can't change God's plans for the earth, but each of us can choose our own fate. It's up to us whether we'll be among those who worship in rapture at God's throne in chapter 4, or those in 9:20-21 who refuse to repent.
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Posted 12/23/2007 6:21:53 PM
December 24, 2007Read Revelations 6-7 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2006-007&version=9 John was shown, in the form of seven prophetic letters in Chapters 2 and 3, the history of the world from the time in which he was then living until the Rapture. Many Bible scholars refer to that time period as the Church Age, or the Age of Grace, because during that era (the one we're living in now), God deals with man in a different way than He ever did before, or ever will again. As Paul said in Ephesians 1:4-14, God has chosen us in this dispensation to have a special relationship with Him; we alone among all the people who have ever lived can be adopted into God's own family -- not because we deserve it but by His grace alone – and are permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit, Whose presence guarantees our salvation. In 4:1, however, John saw the end of the Age of Grace, which will occur when Christ suddenly calls the Church to Him in Heaven. That will usher in the next chapter in earth's story, the Great Tribulation. As we saw yesterday, only Christ has the right and authority to begin those events, long prophesied in the Old Testament but still in the future as I write this. We don't know when all this will occur, but we can be certain that it will. And as we're already into the second century of the last period of history as outlined in 3:14-22, there's reason to think it might be soon. In chapter 6, Christ opens the first six seals on the book He picked up in chapter 5. With the opening of each, a new phase of the Tribulation begins. Notice that when the first seal is opened, all hell DOESN'T break loose. The white horse in verse 2 represents the Antichrist, but when he first comes on the scene, he comes with promises of peace and stability – he has a bow, but no arrows. He has great power, but at first he will appear to offer it for the good of the world, not for evil. Nevertheless, with the subsequent breaking of the next five seals, any hope of peace flees. Not only is the entire planet affected by these goings-on, but the entire solar system (verses 12-14) goes through massive change. Those with money and power will be as vulnerable to disaster as the lowest servant; there will be nothing on earth capable of insulating humanity from the horrors that will prevail at that time. Many have speculated what it might be like to live in the world during the Tribulation, but I don't believe anyone can comprehend or anticipate the awful reality, which Jesus said in Matthew 24:21-22 will be worse than anything the world has yet seen. That's saying a lot, considering the unspeakable atrocities and incomprehensible natural disasters this world has already endured. In chapter 7, John's focus is taken away from the horrifying events taking place on the earth and directed to what's going on in Heaven at that time. This is where we see the 144,000 Jews marked with the seal of God. What that seal is and how it works, no one yet knows; but in verses 4-8, God makes it as clear and obvious as it can be that the people involved here are Jews. Hebrews. The physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You can forget anything you've ever been told about them being Jehovah's Witnesses, or anyone else. I've heard it preached that once the Rapture occurs, no one else can be saved. We can see from verses 9-17 that that prediction isn't true. Those who previously heard the Gospel and refused it before the Rapture will be, in fact, blinded to the truth and will wholeheartedly embrace the Antichrist when he appears (II Thessalonians 2:8-12). However, there will be countless others of every nation, race and language who never had the opportunity to be saved, who will hear and believe the Gospel preached by these 144,000 Jewish evangelists during the Tribulation. As Peter said, God isn't willing that any should perish; but when we reject His offer of salvation, we have a limited time in which to accept it.
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Posted 12/22/2007 8:54:54 PM
December 23, 2007Read Revelations 4-5 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2004-005&version=9 Yesterday, we saw Jesus appear to John and give him messages to be delivered to seven specific churches. Though these were actual congregations at that time in history, they also represented seven time periods which in John's day were yet to come but which now are history, with the exception of the last time period. We're still living in that one. 4:1 describes the next event on God's calendar. The "Laodicean period" will abruptly end with heaven opening and the voice of Christ calling to His children, "Come up here!" This same event was described by Paul in I Thessalonians 4:16-17, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." In Revelations 4, John is given a glimpse of the Rapture. The vision he saw is reminiscent of Ezekiel's vision of God by the River Chebar in Ezekiel 1, and again in Ezekiel 10. We can't understand what each of the images these men saw actually is, but we can be certain that heaven is an awesome and glorious place far different from anything we can envision; and that Christ reigns there as undisputed and eternal King. In chapter 5, John saw the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ, step up to open the book no one else was worthy to open and prepare to break the seven seals. But when John first saw Him, the Lion was a Lamb that had been slain as a sacrifice. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what these symbols represent. The Word of God (the Book no one was worthy to open) will be carried out upon the earth by none other than the Word Himself. When He first made His appearance, it was as a sacrificial lamb, but when the balance of the prophecies are carried out, He'll be like a fierce Lion. What He has already done is beyond human description, beyond mortal comprehension. All creation falls before him in worship and praise, speechless at His glory and grace (verses 8-14). Those who worship him in Heaven that day will be overcome with gratitude and reverence and awe, in part because though they don't deserve it, they'll be spared the horrors those "seven seals" will release. We'll see that begin to unfold tomorrow. It occurs to me as I write this that perhaps we literally WILL see this unfold tomorrow! No one knows when the Rapture will occur; but when it does, God's grace will be no longer be so freely available. The wise thing would be to avail ourselves of it now, and to urge our loved ones to do so as well. As Peter said, "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God …Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." (II Peter 3:11-15)
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Posted 12/22/2007 8:51:59 PM
23 -- Read Revelations 4-5http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2004-005&version=9 24 -- Read Revelations 6-7 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2006-007&version=9 25 -- Read Revelations 8-9 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2008-009&version=9 26 -- Read Revelations 10-11 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2010-011&version=9 27 -- Read Revelations 12-13 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%20012-013&version=9 28 -- Read Revelations 14-15 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2014-015&version=9 29 -- Read Revelations 16-17 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2016-017&version=9
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Posted 12/21/2007 5:31:17 PM
December 22, 2007Read Revelations 1-3 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2001-003&version=9 The book of Revelations is one of the most difficult, and in recent years one of the most talked-about, books of the Bible. My comments won't begin to do it justice, but we can look together at its basic framework beginning today and continuing until the end of the year. Chapter 1 gives us the background. The Apostle John was on the island of Patmos, where he'd been exiled for his faith. Christ came to him there and revealed future events. The giver of these revelations is identified in verses 5-11 as Jesus Christ, the faithful witness (that is, if He says it, you can believe it, He's not going to lie to us); the first to be resurrected to eternal life (those whom He miraculously raised, such as Lazarus, would all die again); head over all earthly kings; the One Who loved us enough to cleanse us from our sins with His Own blood; the beginning of all things, the sum total, and the end. All this, of course, to signify that the source is reliable. We're not going to understand every bit of it – even John didn't understand it all – but we're hardly in a position to dispute or disbelieve it. Chapters 2 and 3 are messages from Christ to seven actual churches that existed in John's day in the first century AD. However, in keeping with the multiple meanings of much of the Bible, each actual church represents a particular era that was still in the future when John received and wrote these messages; and the message Christ gave to each actual church would also be applicable to the churches in the corresponding future period of history. The message to the church at Ephesus, 2:1-7, was meant to be delivered to the church that was at Ephesus, the same church Paul wrote to in his Epistle to the Ephesians. But Christ's message to that church was the same counsel He gave to the church as a whole – that is, all Christ-followers the world over – during the time period between 90 and 200 AD. The actual church at Ephesus at the time John received this message, and the Body of Christ as a whole in the "Ephesus Period" of time, were commended for their good works, for their perseverance, and for being discerning false doctrine and condemning it wherever it was found (verse 2), as well as for their suffering for the Lord's name (verse 3). But Christ reminded them of the over-arching importance of remaining true to their first love – that is, the Person of Christ. It's all too easy to get caught up in the activities of the Christian life and neglect to maintain our intimacy with Christ Himself, forgetting that ours is not a religion, but a personal relationship with God. The church was urged to repent of this negligence and return to their first love, or they would cease to exist as a church. (This isn't a warning that an individual can lose his or her salvation –it's a warning that a church can grow so distant from God, and thus so ineffective, that it will fizzle out.) In 2:8-11, the message to the church in the city of Smyrna (which means "myrrh," associated with bitterness and death) was also intended for the Body of Christ during the time period between 200 and 325 AD, which was a time of intense persecution. In John's day, the city of Smyrna had strict laws against Christianity, and they were severely enforced; the tribulation the Church endured under the rule of the Roman Empire between 200 and 325 was also particularly intense, and the history of that period is marked by ten distinct pograms conducted against Christianity (verse 10, "and ye shall have tribulation ten days"). But Rome's efforts to wipe out the faith didn't succeed. In John's day, Pergamus (2:12-17) was the headquarters of the Roman government in Asia; that is, Rome's seat of authority. The representative time period is from 325 to 500 AD, during which time Satan established a seat of authority for himself in Rome. This is one of the most pivotal and fascinating chapters of church history, and unfortunately there isn't time to go into much detail. At that time, the Roman emperor, Constantine, was used by the devil as an instrument in his next phase of attack against Christianity. One might call this the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" offense. That is, he motivated Constantine to profess a conversion to Christ (though never forsaking his former idolatrous religion) and take enthusiastic steps to meld Christianity with the ancient paganism that he and much of the Empire already embraced. (It's interesting that Constantine actually paid people to be baptized into Christianity, but never bothered to be baptized himself.) In this merger of idolatrous tradition with Christian terminology, the goddess Ishtar and her child Tammuz became the Madonna and Christ Child, complete with halos; the winter festival Saturnalia traditionally celebrated on December 25 with festive lights and the giving of gifts was renamed "Christmas" and called the birthday of Christ, though Jesus was not born in winter; Easter, the spring festival honoring the god Tammuz, became the holiday celebrating the resurrection of Christ; the vestal virgins in the pagan Roman temples became nuns; in short, pagan Rome became Papal Rome, and the religion it embraced resembled paganism as much as it did Christianity. (If these things make you uncomfortable, check out the history and form your own conclusions – I'm only giving the facts here.) In 2:6, Christ commended the Ephesian church for resisting the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, but here in verse 15, He condemns Pergamos for accepting it, and says that He hates that doctrine. Since He mentions this twice and uses such strong words, it's a good idea to pay attention to what He's talking about. The word "Nicol" means "conquerors," and "laitan" means "laity," or non-clergy. The doctrine of the Nicolaitans, then, is the separation of the clergy from the laity, elevating them to an elite position and giving them sole authority to interpret the scriptures, thus preventing the common people from reading and studying the Word of God for themselves. Jesus says He hates that attitude, and it's easy to see why. When He came to the earth in human flesh, He didn't appear to the religious hierarchy, but to shepherds and carpenters and fishermen and laborers; He sat on hillsides and by village wells and revealed His Word to everyday men and women. The Scriptures were always intended for the common man. In 2:18-29, the name of the city Thyatira meant "odor of affliction," and the most prominent characteristic of the historical period corresponding to that church's name – the centuries between 500-1000 AD – was one of affliction, as the newly established Roman church persecuted those who remained true to the faith and refused to be seduced into spiritual adultery. In 3:1-6, the church at Sardis received a message from Christ, but that same message also applies to the body of Christ in the world between 1000 and 1500 AD. The name Sardis comes from word meaning "red," signifying blood; and during the "Sardis" period of history, persecution against Bible-believing Christ-followers was greater than at any other time. (Another description of that time period is found in Revelations 17:6, in which a woman [who represents Papal Rome, as we'll see when we read that chapter] is drunk with the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus.) The letter to the church at Philadelphia (whose name means "city of brotherly love") has a much different feel. The era this church represents is the years between 1500 to 1900 AD, during which time the stranglehold of the Roman Catholic clergy, which prevented the common man from having access to the true Word of God, was broken. The Bible was translated, printed and distributed in the languages of Europe, and the light of God's truth poured into the world. The letter in 3:14-22 was written to the church at Laodicea, but it's also applicable to Christ-followers living from 1900 until the present day. The name of the city meant "the rights of the people," and even a blind man can see that in this era, human rights are valued more highly than the God's righteousness, much as Paul warned would be the case, in II Timothy 3:2-5, "For men shall be lovers of their own selves… lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof…" Of course one problem with seeing ourselves in this picture is pointed out in verse 17: "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." In other words, we're blind to the truth about ourselves. That's why Christ counsels us in verse 18 to come to Him for what we need and to allow Him to anoint our eyes with salve so that we can see things as they really are. He characterizes the church in this time period as one in which He stands on the outside and knocks; but all to often we're too busy inside with our own affairs to hear, and open the door, and let Him in (verse 20). I tried to make this short, but I obviously failed! Nevertheless, there's a whole lot more I could say, but can't take the time. (Aren't you glad?) I'll try to keep my comments briefer tomorrow, but this should give you something to think about in the meantime.
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Posted 12/20/2007 6:04:10 PM
December 21, 2007Read Jude http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jude%2001&version=9 Most scholars believe that the author of this letter, like James, was one of Jesus's half-brothers. Though we know that at first he didn't embrace the idea that Jesus was the Messiah (John 7:5), by this time he's not only a believer, but he's passionate about defending the faith. His purpose in writing was to point out the dangers of Gnosticism, an unscriptural teaching that had captured the imaginations of many toward the end of the first century and threatened to infect the church with its heresy. Jude points out that the faith doesn't change with the whim of culture or the tide of popular opinion; just as Christ died once for all, as we saw in Hebrews 9:23-28, so the Gospel was delivered once to everyone, everywhere (verse 3), no matter what their situation. In verses 4-16, Jude reminds the reader that there have always been false prophets and people who refused to believe the truth, and God has always dealt harshly with them. The same is true today; God will not allow false prophets to prosper for long, and Jude makes no pretense about his opinion of them, in verses 12-13 and 15-16. The heresies come and go, taking on different guises to make them more attractive; but they're all from Satan, an attempt to tempt humanity to question God's words like he did with Eve in Genesis 3:1. In verses 17-21 Jude reminds believers to remember and keep God's words – that is, the Scriptures – and continue our love relationship with God in Christ. In an ever-changing world, some things remain the same: one constant is the truth of God, and another is the fact that the enemy continually tries to subvert it. In verses 22-23, Jude urges us to realize that some immature believers can be unwittingly sucked in by the lies; when we see that happening, we should have compassion on them, show them their error, and lead them out of it before they get in too deep. He ends with this benediction, which I also pray: "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen."
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Posted 12/20/2007 6:23:39 AM
December 20, 2007Read II John, III John http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IIJohn%2001&version=9 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IIIJohn%2001&version=9 These are short letters, and at first glance they don't seem to say much. But we know there's some important stuff here or they wouldn't be in the scriptures. II John is written to an unnamed lady and her children. Some scholars believe, and I agree, that this family represents a church, rather than an actual woman and her offspring. The last verse seems to support that – reference to "the children of thy elect sister" most likely means a different church, the congregation of believers in the area where John was when he wrote this letter. Why he uses these euphemisms is unknown, but it would appear that that's the underlying meaning. Whether he wrote to a church or to a literal woman, however, the truth is the same, is applicable to all, and is particularly pertinent to our world today. In I John, he stressed the importance of brotherly love; but here, he warns that we cannot sacrifice the truth for the sake of love. Our first love must be for the truth of God, and we cannot love anything that is at enmity with the truth. He cautions this "lady" against allowing anyone to enter into her home who denies the deity of Christ and the truths associated with that. She shouldn't even send such a person away with her blessing, because that would be blessing his evil deeds. We can't know the story behind John's writing of this little letter, but we can heed its warnings. The third letter written by John that has survived the ages was written to a man named Gaius, urging him to extend hospitality to other believers who are traveling through. It appears that John was motivated to write this because of a fellow named Diotrephes, who's not only refused these itinerant preachers hospitality, but has forbidden anyone else to take them in. Again, we can't know the whole story here, but the truth John shares here seems to counterbalance what he wrote to "the elect lady" in his second letter. Diotrephes appears to have thought he alone held the truth, and anyone else must be a renegade and should be shunned. There ARE pretenders to the faith, of course, but we can't reject everyone we don't know, believing them to be false, any more than we should blindly receive with open arms anyone who names the name of Jesus. Truth and love must be equally operational at the same time. Love the brethren; love the truth; don't sacrifice one for the other. It IS possible to do this, John says in verse 12 – Demetrius does it. Follow his example. We don't know Demetrius today, of course, but we've probably all known people like him, those who are faithful to the truth of God but still have a good report of all men. As John said in I John 4:20-21, "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also."
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Posted 12/18/2007 5:41:38 PM
December 19, 2007Read I John 4-5 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IJohn%2004-005&version=9 In 4:1-6, John revisits what he mentioned yesterday in 2:18-29 concerning the spirit of the antichrist. One of the things that makes the world such a confusing place is the fact that the enemy of God is so good at imitating God that it can be difficult to tell the difference. Although the time has not yet come that Paul describes in II Thessalonians 2:1-12 when "that Wicked" will be appear in bodily form as the Antichrist, that spirit of wickedness has long been in the world doing everything possible to undermine and distort the Word of God. As John says here in verses 2-3 and in also 2:22-23, one way to know for sure which spirit is speaking through a person is how that person views Jesus Christ. If (s)he denies that He was God in human flesh, we can be confident that that person is not speaking for God. When we begin to discern some of the ways evil cloaks itself in beauty, in kindness and compassion, in religion, etc., it can be pretty unnerving. Even terrifying. That's why John reassures the reader that although the powers at work in the world are mighty, the Spirit that is within every believer is mightier than all; even if we're "little children" in the faith, the power of God within us has overcome the powers at work in the world. Verses 7-21 review and elaborate upon things John touched on earlier. They're not so difficult to understand if you take your time as you read, and they're well worth contemplating. In chapter 5, John seeks to reassure struggling believers by encouraging them to trust in God's promises rather than on what they see, hear and feel. We can know we're saved because God has promised to keep us, and because His Spirit grows visible fruit in our lives, such as God's supernatural love for one another, and a desire to leave our old, fleshly habits and live in godly obedience. There's some heavy truth throughout this book, but what it all boils down to is pretty simple – our salvation and our security in Christ are all about Him, not about us. We're the beneficiaries, but the power to accomplish it all is His. Nevertheless, there are many pretenders to the faith who appear to be part of God's family but are not. The truth will come out through our words, our love, and our acceptance of the deity of Christ. Verse 20 is a good one to carry around with you: "And we know that the son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." After that statement of faith, John's final admonition, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," seems a little out of place. But it recognizes that believers – new believers especially – are often tempted to try to have it both ways. That is, we try to tack Christianity onto our old, comfortable worldly ways. Unfortunately, we can't do that – if we're going to follow Christ, we must reject all the things we formerly worshipped and follow Him alone. What those "idols" are can be different for different people. If you have any question about whether or not you've been continuing to worship idols after beginning your Christian walk, God will be delighted to reveal that to you if you'll ask Him.
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Posted 12/18/2007 7:39:52 AM
December 18, 2007Read I John 1-3 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IJohn%2001-002&version=9 This book has no address and no signature. From the context, however, it appears to be addressed to believers, and it's always been attributed to the Apostle John. In the absence of internal evidence to the contrary, I won't argue with tradition. His intention in writing was to clear up some basic questions: how can I know I'm saved? How can I distinguish false doctrine from true? Can I be truly saved if I don't feel like it? Christians have wrestled with these questions from the beginning, and the subject is equally pertinent today. John begins by reminding the reader that although the Christian faith was, at the time he wrote this, a new phenomenon, its Founder and the truth upon which it is based have been around a long time. The only thing new about it was its revelation to mankind (1:1-2). He goes on to say that Christianity isn't a religion; it's a relationship (verse 3) with Jehovah God and His Son Jesus Christ. In verse 4, he states his purpose in writing: "that your joy may be full." That is, that we might experience the "abundant life" Jesus spoke of in John 10:10, which can only be found when we walk in fellowship with Him. He is the eternal Word, 1:1 – He is perfect light, verse 5, unmarred by any shadow or darkness. When we walk with Him in obedience, we'll walk in that perfect light, verses 6-7. You've probably met people who insist they have no need of Christ because they're not all that bad; only sinners need a savior. John answers this without mincing words, in verses 8-10. Anyone who says he doesn't need Christ is a liar, and to say you're not a sinner is the same as calling God a liar. Parts of chapter 2 can seem confusing and contradictory. When John says a believer doesn't sin, he doesn't mean a Christian is perfect. Every Christ-follower struggles with the temptations of the flesh, and often messes up – even Paul, as he so eloquently described in Romans 7:15-25. Making a mistake doesn't mean you're not really a believer; it just means you're human. When we sin – and we surely will -- Jesus forgives and cleanses us when we confess our sin. However, if a person is truly saved and has the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within, (s)he isn't going to shrug off sin as inconsequential. (S)he is going to want to do right, and feels terrible about it when (s)he fails. In verse 7, John says, "I write no new commandment," but then in verse 8 he begins, "Again a new commandment I write unto you…" What's up with that? It's what he said at the beginning of this letter, that none of this is new; it's all eternal truth, and has existed with God from the beginning. However, it WAS new to humanity. In the past, people were expected to adhere to certain laws and standards of behavior, but now, the first commandment is love. As Jesus said in Matthew 22:36-40, love was the basis of every commandment all along, but people never understood it before. Christ came to demonstrate that love, and anyone who says (s)he is in Christ but doesn't manifest the love of Christ is living, not in the Light of Life, but in a godless darkness. Verses 12-14 give a progression of the Christian walk. "Little children" don't know a whole lot, but they know their sins are forgiven. As they grow in faith and wisdom, they become "young men," who have the strength to overcome the wicked one because the Word of God abides within them. As they continue to mature, they develop into "fathers," who not only know the Word of God, but are on intimate terms with the God of the Word. Verses 15-17 remind us that, as Jesus said, we can't love God and mammon. Here, John distills the list of things that come between us and God as all stemming from the lust of the flesh (everything that makes us feel good), the lust of the eyes (everything we see that we want), and the pride of life (everything that makes us feel good about ourselves). It's not that God wants us to be uncomfortable, poor, and bummed out – quite the opposite. But when we look to the world to give us these things, we'll ultimately miss the boat. As verse 17 points out, everything that's in the world will pass away; but when we're in Christ and seek the things above, the treasures we gain are eternal. See Psalm 16:11: "Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." In verses 18-27, John points out some of the differences between the Holy Spirit that dwells within every believer, and the spirit of the antichrist that lives in the world. As Peter explained yesterday, false prophets often arise from within the Church; but they were never truly in Christ. One way to identify the spirit of the antichrist is that person's refusal to acknowledge Jesus Christ as God. John must have had tears in his eyes when he started chapter 3 – his passion is evident in verse 1. What manner of love indeed! That God would ever adopt US – filthy, foolish, sinful humanity – as His children! We're still imperfect, verse 2, but when we're taken to Heaven, we'll look like Christ. In verse 3 John suggests that when we grasp that, it will change the way we live. Verses 4-19 talk about what we discussed earlier, the fact that though Christ-followers aren't immune from sin, a genuine believer won't revel in it. One of the most obvious ways we keep Christ's commandments is through love for one another. Christlike love isn't a warm, fuzzy feeling, but is demonstrated by self-sacrificial action. Unfortunately, we don't always feel like loving people. We often feel unworthy of being called a child of God. We don't always feel forgiven. These feelings of inadequacy and inability to keep Christ's commands can cause us to doubt our salvation. Verses 20-24 remind us that our standing before God isn't based upon what we feel like, but upon God's promises. If we've blown it, if we've failed to follow as faithfully as we'd like and as obediently as we know we should, we shouldn't let our hearts condemn us. Our confidence is in God, not in ourselves. Understanding this frees us to confess our sins and start again, knowing that His Spirit is within us, keeping us secure in Christ. Remember what Jesus said in John 10:27-28: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." We don't keep ourselves in His hand by our good behavior; He holds us there forever, no matter what. Right about now I want to burst out with the old hymn, "Hallelujah! What a Savior!"
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Posted 12/17/2007 8:19:25 AM
December 17, 2007Read II Peter 1-3 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IIPeter%2001-003&version=9 The main purpose of Peter's second letter is to warn about those who preach false doctrine within the church. That was a serious problem in the first century AD, but as Paul warned in II Timothy 3:13, the situation will worsen as time goes on ("But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.") It's important to realize that, as Paul said, they aren't always deliberately peddling lies – in many cases they're sincere, fully believing that what they teach is true. That is, they themselves are deceived. Don't rush past 1:3-4 without paying close attention: God has given us ALL the things we need for life, and for godliness. How are those things obtained? Through the knowledge of Him. Where are those things obtained? Through His Book, the instrument through which He reveals Himself to us. In His Word He gives us promises, which when we believe and receive them, will enable us to escape the world's corruption and partake of His divine nature. That's some pretty heavy stuff right there, and it all comes from the Bible that so many scoff at as irrelevant. I don't know about you, but it seems pretty relevant to me. Peter goes on to say that all this doesn't happen the instant you open the pages, with a flash and an infusion of power. Rather, it's a process. It all starts, of course, with faith in Christ and the Holy Spirit, Who comes to dwell within us from the moment of our salvation. After that, we study His Word with all diligence (verse 5), obeying God's commands as they're revealed to us (verse 5, "virtue"). As we continue on this path, we grow in knowledge and self-control and patience and godliness and brotherly kindness and love (verses 6-7); and these all work together to make our lives fruitful (verse 8). (Sounds a lot like what Paul said in Galatians 5:22-23 about the fruit of the Spirit, doesn't it?) Peter continues discussing the vital importance of the Scriptures in verses 15-21. In verses 15-18 he recounts the earth-moving event he, James and John witnessed as recorded in Matthew 17:1-13 (and two of the other gospels as well), which church people call "the Transfiguration." This was a very big deal – a life-changing experience if there ever was one. But, Peter says, he couldn't understand it at the time. It meant something, yes, but the feelings and impressions it left him with were unreliable. What's NOT unreliable, he says in verses 19-21, is the scriptures. God's Word is more certain, more accurate, and more important than any experience we might have, no matter how momentous that event may be. Experiences might be open to interpretation, but God's Word isn't. From that statement (which many choose to disbelieve, but it's true nevertheless), Peter goes on to warn about those who depart from the truth of the Scriptures and teach heresies. This is sometimes done for financial gain (2:3), but often, as noted above, the teachers are honest and sincere because they actually believe what they're saying. We can't judge a doctrine by the earnestness of the person who tells us about it, but by whether or not it conforms to God's truth in every detail. Peter uses pretty strong language in chapter 2, but unfortunately everything he says is true. Please note that in the context, verses 20-22 don't refer to a person losing his salvation – although these false teachers are within the church, it's clear from everything Peter says about them that they had never yielded themselves to Christ to begin with, but were wolves in sheepskins. That is to say, they couldn't lose their salvation because they were never saved to begin with. Sad to say, but then as now, every church has its pretenders. Chapter 3 is particularly interesting, considering the fact that we're now living in the days Peter's talking about (verse 3). Verse 4 mentions what we talked about yesterday concerning the fact that "the end is near." People tend to interpret God's mercy in withholding judgment as proof that He doesn't exist, and/or will never judge the sin of the world. What they don't get, Peter says in verses 5-7, is that God judged the world in the past (through the Flood in Noah's day), and He will just as assuredly judge it again, but with fire rather than water. Most people consider the Flood to be a myth, but the physical evidence is everywhere. Instead of reading the signs according to logic and God's Word, they come up with other, unproveable and unfounded pseudo-scientific explanations in order to try to eliminate God from the picture. That's never going to happen, though – God's no only in the picture, but He painted it. His imprint is everywhere on the planet. But listen, Peter says in verses 8-10. God isn't withholding judgment because He's not going to keep His promises; He's holding off so that as many people as possible can be saved. The end IS coming, and when it does, the window of opportunity for mercy will close with a bang. Since that's the case, he says in verses 11-18, these truths should influence the way we live. He makes one more reference to God's Word, in verse 16, confirming that Paul's epistles are Scripture and warning that people have a tendency to twist them, as they do other Scriptures, to suit their own purposes. He concludes with an admonition to grow in grace, "and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." How can we grow in knowledge of the Lord? By immersing ourselves in the Scriptures, where He is revealed. There are few places where the Bible talks about itself as much as in this second epistle of Peter. And there are few people more qualified to write about it than him, who knew Christ intimately as a man and even more so after His resurrection. It makes good sense to pay attention to what he's saying.
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Posted 12/16/2007 4:43:05 AM
December 16, 2007Read I Peter 4-5 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IPeter%2004-005&version=9 The last phrase in the first verse of today's reading, "for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin," might cause some confusion, but looking at the context can help clear it up. Peter's just been talking about how Jesus suffered at the hands of ungodly men for His righteousness. We who follow Him must walk in this ungodly world with that same mind; we should expect to suffer as He did. As Christ-followers, we're faced with a choice: do we follow Christ and be persecuted for it? or do we deny Him and go back to our fleshly way of life in a vain attempt to escape suffering for our faith? (I say "vain," because either way, we'll suffer.) The person who makes the decision to walk with Christ and meet with affliction as a result, has broken the power of sin over his life. Yes, he'll still be tempted, and yes, he'll still err; but when we say, "I don't care what happens, I'm going to follow Christ in every aspect of my life," we give sin a black eye and free ourselves from its stranglehold. In verse 7, Peter reminds his readers that the end is near. As we've discussed before, believers have been preaching that for nearly 2000 years and it hasn't happened yet, so why do we still believe it? Because the end IS near – the end of our lives. Christ WILL return just as He's promised, but no one can know when that will be. We can know, however, that our own lives are short, and they're all we've got. If we fail to do what we're put here to do, we've missed the boat. And for a Christ-follower, what we're put here to do is to serve Him. As Peter says here, we need to take this seriously ("be ye therefore sober"). In verse 12, he again reminds the reader that suffering is to be expected. I think of it like a pregnancy. If you're pregnant, you can be certain that when the time is right, you're going to experience labor pains. It's unavoidable, and there's no other way to obtain what you're going through all this for (in the case of pregnancy, the baby is the goal). When we follow Christ, there's no way to obtain what we're after without going through difficulties. So when the pangs hit, why are we surprised? In chapter 5 Peter gives some instruction to church leaders in verses 1-4, to younger believers in verse 5, and to everyone in verses 6-9. Peter knows about persecution; he knows about temptation; he's the poster child for letting his flesh get the better of him; so he's in an excellent position to say these things. In verses 10-11 he reminds us that no matter what trials we face during our walk with the Lord, it will all be worth it, and more. He wraps it up with a few personal greetings, in verses 12-14. References to Babylon and to Mark in verse 13 are a little obscure. No doubt his readers understood what and who he meant, but today, we're not sure. Babylon could have been the literal city by that name, where in fact many Jews lived; or it could be a euphemism for Rome, as the term is used in Revelations 17 and 18. And Mark could have been Peter's actual biological son (which is the usual use of the word translated "son" here, as opposed to the word Paul used to describe Timothy, his "son in the faith"). Some think it's a reference to John Mark, whom we've seen before (for instance, in Acts 12:12 and 25). Many scholars believe that this man Mark was the author of the gospel by that name. If that's the case, then we have to wonder if the gospel-writer was Peter's actual son. This fits with the ancient tradition that Mark's gospel is based on Peter's eyewitness accounts. But we can't know any of these things for sure. As is always the case, we can't fully understand everything in the Bible. But we can believe it all, and follow faithfully all that we DO understand. That's plenty to start with.
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Posted 12/16/2007 4:40:00 AM
16 -- Read I Peter 4-5 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IPeter%2004-005&version=9 17 -- Read II Peter 1-3 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IIPeter%2001-003&version=9 18 -- Read I John 1-3 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IJohn%2001-002&version=9 19 -- Read I John 3-5 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IJohn%2003-005&version=9 20 -- Read II John http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IIJohn%2001&version=9 21 -- Read III John, Jude http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IIIJohn%2001&version=9 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jude%2001&version=9 22 -- Read Revelations 1-3 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%2001-003&version=9
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Posted 12/14/2007 9:22:16 PM
December 15, 2007Read I Peter 1-3 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=IPeter%2001-003&version=9 Like James and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Peter wrote to the believing Jews. Although Peter was the one who God used to break ground in taking the Gospel to the Gentiles, his primary focus was his own countrymen. Whether Jew or Gentile, however, a believer could be sure of one thing: he would be persecuted. The world hated Christ, and it hates His followers. Peter wrote to encourage his suffering brethren scattered around the world (1:1-2). (The word "strangers" in verse 1 is a common reference to the Jewish exiles in dispersion.) Verses 3-9 have comforted many a struggling believer through difficult times. Verses 10-12 remind the readers, who, being Jews, had grown up hearing the words of the Scriptures, that what all the prophets foretold was now coming to pass. They spoke and wrote what the Holy Spirit moved them to say, but they didn't understand it, and they wished they could. Now, says Peter, we are the beneficiaries of everything they longed for. In verses 13-25 he says, remember who you are, Who redeemed you, and at what price. You have a higher calling than the saintliest of those who have gone before you. Our forefathers were called to be holy because God is holy; but our standard is higher. We're called not to mere holiness, but to love as God loves. Reminiscent of Hebrews 6, in 2:1-3 Peter encourages the believers to mature in their faith, building upon the basics and growing upward. Like Paul in Ephesians 2:20-22, he uses the analogy of a temple rising from the solid foundation of Christ, with each believer a living stone. Whereas in the Mosaic system only the sons of Levi could be priests, in this temple, everyone has direct access to God. We are the generation whom God has chosen to lead the world to Him – we are a royal priesthood ("royal" because we've been adopted into God's family and are brothers to Christ the King); a holy nation; a unique people (verse 9). In verses 11-25, Peter reminds them of some of the behaviors that are fitting for such a calling. We can't live like the unsaved, who allow their fleshly lusts to dictate their actions (verse 11). We must behave honestly in the world, set a good example, and not give unbelievers any just cause to accuse us (verse 12). We must honor God by honoring and submitting to the governmental authorities (verses 13-17). We must respect all the authorities in our lives, even as Christ did, because ultimately it is He whom we serve (verses 18-23). He continues in chapter 3: wives are to be in subjection to their husbands, verses 1-6; husbands are to honor their wives, verse 7; and every believer should have courtesy and compassion for one another, verses 8-12. If we do these things, Peter says in verses 13-22, no one will be able to fault you – you will be blameless in the world. Nevertheless, life won't be a bed of roses; there was only one perfect Man, and we all know what they did to Him. No matter what, you're going to suffer, but it's better to suffer for righteousness' sake than to have to pay for your sins. Our sins are paid for by Christ. Peter will talk more about that in chapter 4; but for today, let's examine ourselves, asking Him to reveal to us where we fall short and yielding ourselves to His righteousness in every facet of our lives.
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Posted 12/13/2007 8:14:47 PM
December 14, 2007Read James 4-5 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%2004-005&version=9 It's evident from this letter that James wrote to a very materialistic people, and there's plenty of that sin in churches today. At the end of chapter 3 yesterday, James pointed out that godly wisdom (as opposed to what the world calls wisdom, which usually has to do with improving one's financial state and "looking out for Number One") yields peace. Not just inner peace, but peace with one another. In chapter 4, he elaborates on that. In verses 1-2, I don't know how literally to take the words "wars", "fightings," and "kill." I hope he meant these things figuratively. But whether there were literal fightings and killings among these believers or if it was merely bitter controversy, the source of that horrible aberration would be the same. The only difference is the degree to which it is taken. That is, as he says in verses 2-3, you fight because you lust. You lust because you see something you want, but don't have it. You don't have it, because you didn't ask God for it. Or if you do ask, you don't receive it because you ask with the wrong motive. The fact is – and this is demonstrated throughout all the Scriptures, and in the lives of countless believers throughout history – God provides everything we need to follow Him. And in many cases, He provides for our wants, as well. If we think we need something, we merely need to ask our Father. But we can't expect Him to give it to us if our desire is self-serving rather than for the purpose of serving Him. If we lust after things of the world more than things of God, we're spiritual adulterers, verse 4. But even in this, He'll give what we ask if what we ask for honors him – how about asking Him to help you overcome our lust? He'll give us the grace to do that, verse 8. How? By submitting ourselves to Him and resisting the enemy when he entices us, verses 7-8. When we humble ourselves before God, acknowledging our sin and repenting of it, He'll lift us up from our faces and wrap us in His arms, verses 9-10. James says, don't worry whether other people are responding to this admonition; just see to it that YOU do. Let God judge the others; that's not your job, verses 11-12. In verses 13-17 he reminds the people that although we have legitimate business to conduct, it shouldn't be our business that rules our lives, but the Lord. We can make plans, but realize that they're all dependent upon Him. We should consider everything we have as a gift of God -- whether it be a material gift, or the gift of time itself – and honor Him in all things. If we know what He wants us to do but refuse to do it, we sin against Him. In 5:1-6 James has some rather harsh things to say about the worldly rich. I don't know the background here, but it would appear that some of the wealthy unbelievers have been mistreating and persecuting those who were powerless against them. James reminds his readers that although they prevail now, their day of reckoning is coming. It's possible that some of the people he wrote to were eager to increase their wealth so they'd be in a better position to compete with these cutthroats. James says not to worry about them, they'll get theirs all in good time. Just as the farmer realizes he has to wait until conditions are right before he can harvest his crop, we need to reason that Christ won't return until the time is right, verses 7-8. We must therefore be patient, and continue waiting in godliness, verses 9-12. James concludes the letter rather abruptly, it seems to me. He reminds the people to pray for those who are sick; to pray for one another in every situation, not just for physical health; and to endeavor to live holy lives. He reminds them that even Elijah had no power of his own, but the fantastic miracles he performed were entirely due to the power of God upon him; and that same power is ours in Christ. If our walk with the Lord is as close as Elijah's, we can pray with that same faith and effect. Verses 19-20 remind the readers that people are inevitably going to stray from the truth of God's Word from time to time; but when we see that happening, we should point out their error. That's another situation that hasn't changed. The only way to distinguish truth from error, of course, is by comparing everything to what God says in His Word. James doesn't say that here, but he wrote to Jews, who have been called the "people of the Book." A multitude of sins can be avoided and overcome when we stick to the Book, and encourage others to do so as well.
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Posted 12/12/2007 5:20:38 PM
December 13, 2007Read James 1-3 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%2001-003&version=9 Some scholars believe this letter was the first New Testament book written. Its author was James, half-brother of Jesus, who at one time was the leader of the church in Jerusalem, according to Acts 1:14 and 21:18. He wrote this to the Christ-following Jews in dispersion. He was concerned that often it was impossible to distinguish those who believed from those who didn't – their faith wasn't evident in their lives. He begins with a rather surprising statement: Count it all joy when you find yourself up to your neck in troubles (1:2). Why? Because it's an opportunity for God to perfect you, verses 3-4. If you don't understand, verse 5, pray about it, and He'll give you understanding. But pray in faith, not with a cynical attitude, verses 6-8. Unless you have faith, you can't expect Him to take your prayers seriously. In verses 9-11 he whips out with another seeming contradiction: "Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. But the rich, in that he is made low…" That is, God doesn't see wealth and position the way we do. If we trust in our worldly wealth, we're trusting in emptiness. James is full of pithy sayings like this, and he continues in this way throughout chapter 1, pointing out that it doesn't matter what we say about our faith if what we do doesn't back it up. In 2:1-9 he addresses the matter of judging a person by his or her wealth, saying that this sort of judgmentalism is sin. And let's not try to justify it by saying, "But it's just a small sin…" In God's eyes, James says in verses 10-13, there's no such thing as a small sin. In verses 14-26 he gets to the meat of it: don't tell me you have faith. SHOW me your faith by the way you live. Do it the way Abraham did: he demonstrated his faith by obedience. If your faith doesn't show, it's not the living faith that God's looking for. In chapter 3, James talks a lot about talking. Elaborating on what he first brought up in 1:26 ("If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain"), he says if we want to demonstrate our faith, the first thing we have to do is get our tongue under control. Make sure you read verses 2-12 – it's an easy passage to understand, and rather enlightening. If you don't have a Bible handy, here's a link to that chapter: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%2003&version=9 Verses 13-18 point out that there's a big difference between claiming to be wise and knowledgeable, and acting that way. Again, our words and deeds tell the true tale. James differentiates between worldly wisdom (marked by envying, strife and confusion) and the wisdom that is from above, which is pure, peaceable, gentle, etc. (verse 17). We get the impression that much controversy and bitter argument plagued the Jewish believers; we'll see more about that tomorrow in chapter 4. James points out the source of that controversy, and it's NOT of God. Although we must stand firm in the faith and not tolerate false doctrine, we're |