ENGLISH ONLY EDITION. Light is sown like seed for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Psalm 97:11
Showing posts with label Bible Study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible Study. Show all posts
Monday, June 22, 2015
Thursday, June 18, 2015
The Parable of the Tenants
A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
It was one of those contentious discussions between the Priests and the Lord. They were questioning His authority again, and since they were unwilling to answer His question about the origin of John’s baptism, He refused to answer their question about His authority.
Then He told them two parables.
“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ” ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet (Matt 21:28-46).
The Lord’s point was that those who realized their hopeless condition and received their cleansing by faith would enter the Kingdom ahead of those who felt no need for a cleansing and relied on their behavior instead. Way ahead.
The Pharisees worked hard to maintain the outward appearance of keeping the law but failed miserably in their hearts, what with their pride and feelings of superiority. The “sinners” on the other hand admitted they hadn’t been able to please God with their behavior and came in faith alone with broken and contrite hearts. The Lord’s preference for that attitude had been documented in their Scriptures for nearly 1000 years. (Psalm 51:16-17)
As for the Parable of the Tenants, only the naming of names could have made this a clearer summary of their history. The Landowner was the Lord, the vineyard His Kingdom on Earth, the workers were the Israelites, His servants represented the prophets He regularly sent to Israel, and of course His son was Jesus. And when they answered the question about what should be done, they gave as pure a prophetic utterance as has ever come from the mouths of men. “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
The Lord agreed. “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
Here then are the only two options available. Fall on the stone (the Stone the builders rejected) and be broken, be humble and contrite, be born again and live by faith. Or keep going your own way till someday when you least expect it the Stone falls on you, and be called to account for your behavior, be crushed and die in your sins.
Back then the officials typically had people who disagreed with them arrested, but they were afraid of Jesus because of His popularity. Still, they understood that He was threatening to take the Kingdom away from them and give to others who would produce its fruit.
Now don’t let anyone try to tell you that the vineyard represents the Land of Israel in this parable. The Lord Himself explained to them that the vineyard represented the Kingdom of God. The land was given to them unconditionally. But beyond that, Israel was chosen by God to accomplish four things; to transmit His word (Isa. 42:9), be a witness for Him (Isa. 43:10), show forth His blessing (Isa. 49:3) and be the channel for the Messiah (Isa. 49:5).
They did such a remarkable job in transmitting God’s word that today hardly any of the Old Testament varies from the way God originally spoke it. And as a showcase for His blessing, the reigns of David and Solomon are unparalleled in previewing life in the Kingdom. Of course it goes without saying that Israel was the channel for the Messiah. It was in the area of being a witness for Him, where they had failed. and that’s why he accused them of bearing no fruit.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are,” Jesus accused them. (Matt23:15)
On the Temple Mount, the Court of the Gentiles was as close as non-Jews could get to the Holy of Holies, and the only place they could legally worship the Lord. Any attempt to get closer was a crime punishable by death. At the time of Jesus it had been turned into an open air market (it’s the place from which Jesus drove the money changers and sellers of animals) making it impossible for gentiles to worship there. In short the Lord promised He would be their God and they had refused to share Him with anyone else.
True to His word, the vineyard was taken from them and given to other tenants. Pretty soon now, we’ll find out if we’ve done any better at producing its fruit. Selah 2-22-04.
It was one of those contentious discussions between the Priests and the Lord. They were questioning His authority again, and since they were unwilling to answer His question about the origin of John’s baptism, He refused to answer their question about His authority.
Then He told them two parables.
The Parable of the Two Sons
“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him (Matt. 21:28-32).The Parable of the Tenants
“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ” ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet (Matt 21:28-46).
I Think They Got The Point
These two parables are so obvious in their meaning, it’s no wonder they got it. John’s Baptism was one of repentance. By the way, let’s correct the meaning of that word. Repent means to change your mind about your behavior, not change your behavior. When John said, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near,” he wasn’t warning people to clean up their act so they could qualify for the Kingdom. He knew that was impossible. He was telling them to change their mind about needing a Savior to save them instead of trying to earn their own righteousness. By allowing John to baptize them, the tax collectors and prostitutes were showing that they had made the change. They were now ready to receive the Messiah when He came to offer cleansing from their sins.The Lord’s point was that those who realized their hopeless condition and received their cleansing by faith would enter the Kingdom ahead of those who felt no need for a cleansing and relied on their behavior instead. Way ahead.
The Pharisees worked hard to maintain the outward appearance of keeping the law but failed miserably in their hearts, what with their pride and feelings of superiority. The “sinners” on the other hand admitted they hadn’t been able to please God with their behavior and came in faith alone with broken and contrite hearts. The Lord’s preference for that attitude had been documented in their Scriptures for nearly 1000 years. (Psalm 51:16-17)
As for the Parable of the Tenants, only the naming of names could have made this a clearer summary of their history. The Landowner was the Lord, the vineyard His Kingdom on Earth, the workers were the Israelites, His servants represented the prophets He regularly sent to Israel, and of course His son was Jesus. And when they answered the question about what should be done, they gave as pure a prophetic utterance as has ever come from the mouths of men. “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
The Lord agreed. “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
Here then are the only two options available. Fall on the stone (the Stone the builders rejected) and be broken, be humble and contrite, be born again and live by faith. Or keep going your own way till someday when you least expect it the Stone falls on you, and be called to account for your behavior, be crushed and die in your sins.
So What’s The Big Mystery Here?
They knew He was talking about them, yet their response was contention not contrition. Their hearts had become so hardened, they could no longer consider the possibility they might be mistaken. They had to shut Him up because they couldn’t risk having to re-think things.Back then the officials typically had people who disagreed with them arrested, but they were afraid of Jesus because of His popularity. Still, they understood that He was threatening to take the Kingdom away from them and give to others who would produce its fruit.
Now don’t let anyone try to tell you that the vineyard represents the Land of Israel in this parable. The Lord Himself explained to them that the vineyard represented the Kingdom of God. The land was given to them unconditionally. But beyond that, Israel was chosen by God to accomplish four things; to transmit His word (Isa. 42:9), be a witness for Him (Isa. 43:10), show forth His blessing (Isa. 49:3) and be the channel for the Messiah (Isa. 49:5).
They did such a remarkable job in transmitting God’s word that today hardly any of the Old Testament varies from the way God originally spoke it. And as a showcase for His blessing, the reigns of David and Solomon are unparalleled in previewing life in the Kingdom. Of course it goes without saying that Israel was the channel for the Messiah. It was in the area of being a witness for Him, where they had failed. and that’s why he accused them of bearing no fruit.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are,” Jesus accused them. (Matt23:15)
On the Temple Mount, the Court of the Gentiles was as close as non-Jews could get to the Holy of Holies, and the only place they could legally worship the Lord. Any attempt to get closer was a crime punishable by death. At the time of Jesus it had been turned into an open air market (it’s the place from which Jesus drove the money changers and sellers of animals) making it impossible for gentiles to worship there. In short the Lord promised He would be their God and they had refused to share Him with anyone else.
Go Ye Into All The World
And so the Great Commission was given to the disciples, and through them to the Church. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” Jesus told them. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt 28:18-20)True to His word, the vineyard was taken from them and given to other tenants. Pretty soon now, we’ll find out if we’ve done any better at producing its fruit. Selah 2-22-04.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Why The Gaps In Prophecy?
A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
Scattered throughout the Scriptures are prophecies that contain references to both the first and second coming of the Lord in what appears to be a single thought. These dual reference prophecies could only be identified as such after the first coming had already taken place. That’s because they were written in such a way that it was impossible to tell beforehand that the Lord’s first coming would only partially fulfill them. Often the writers switch from the first coming to the second coming in the middle of a sentence without so much as a punctuation mark to alert the reader.
In this study I want to share some thoughts on why I believe God had them written this way. But first, here are a couple of examples of these dual reference prophecies so you can see for yourself how cleverly they were written.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
When the Lord had Isaiah write this prophecy 750 years before the fact, no one could have known from reading it that when the Messiah came, He would only fulfill a portion of it. The child was born and the son was given, but the government has never been on His shoulders, and in Israel, to whom He was sent, He has never been called by the names Isaiah attributed to Him.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2)
This prophecy calls for a ruler of Israel to be born in Bethlehem but gives no indication that 2,000 years would pass between the ruler’s birth and His ascension to the throne of Israel. When the Parthian priests called Magi arrived in Jerusalem, they asked, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews?” (Matt. 2:2).
King Herod asked the Jewish leaders where the Messiah would be born, and they used this prophecy to confirm that He would be born in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:4-6). The Magi hastened there believing they were going to anoint a boy king who would grow up to rule over Israel. For his part, Herod had all the young boys in Bethlehem killed in an unsuccessful effort to eliminate what He perceived to be an imminent threat to his rulership. But while the coming king was born, He has yet to take His place on the throne in Israel.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
Then He said He was the fulfillment of the Scripture He had just read. Comparing this to what Isaiah 61:1-2 actually says shows that He stopped before the end of verse 2, leaving out the phrase “and the day of vengeance of our God.”
Without the benefit of Luke 4:18-19, a reading of Isaiah 61:1-2 would lead us to the conclusion that the day of vengeance, what we now call end times judgments, would take place directly after the Lord had finished preaching the good news, freeing the prisoners, giving sight to the blind and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor. By stopping where He did and saying He was its fulfillment, He indicated He hadn’t come to fulfill the part He hadn’t read. There would be a separation of time between the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of His vengeance.
There are several other dual reference prophecies that we who already know about the first coming can identify. Perhaps the most obvious is Daniel 9:24-27, the 70 weeks prophecy, where if you didn’t already know that 2,000 years have passed since the fulfillment of the first 69 weeks of the prophecy (Daniel 9:24-26) without any fulfillment of the 70th week portion (Daniel 9:27) you wouldn’t be able to tell just by reading it, because there’s not even a hint of a gap between them in the text.
Some say He did it to provide “hidden” clues to the Church that He always knew about our time and place in history without alerting Israel to the fact ahead of time.
But as a result of some of my recent studies, I’ve concluded that God had these prophecies written in this particular way to show Israel that they could have been fulfilled just the way they were written. For generations, Israel had been reading and interpreting them to mean that the Messiah would come once and when He did He would fulfill all the prophecies written about Him. In fact it would have been impossible for them to interpret them any other way.
In the time leading up to the first coming, Israel believed when the Messiah came he would vanquish their enemies and restore their kingdom, because that’s what these prophecies said He would do. In fact, even after spending three years with Jesus, the disciples still asked Him if the time had come for Him to restore the Kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6). This tells us in all His time with them Jesus never mentioned an extended period of time during which Israel would be set aside while His attention would be focused on the Gentiles.
By the way, I think His uncharacteristically vague response to their question is a hint that restoring the Kingdom to Israel at that time was still a possibility. They had just presented Him with a perfect opportunity to lay everything out clearly to better prepare them for the years ahead. But instead, He left them hanging. “It’s not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority” (Acts 1:7). To me that indicates the offer of the Kingdom to Israel was still open.
They didn’t know for certain that Israel was being set aside in favor of the Gentiles until 20 years later when James told them (Acts 15:13-18) and even then they didn’t know for how long. James only said that when the Lord had taken (carried away) a people for Himself from among the Gentiles He would turn back to Israel again. In other words, He would resume His focus on Israel after the rapture of the Church.
Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and your Holy City to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most Holy (place) (Daniel 9:24).
Sitting upon His heavenly throne, God decreed that six things would be accomplished for Daniel’s people (Israel) and Daniel’s Holy City (Jerusalem) during a specified period of 490 years.
We should be aware that in Hebrew these things read a little differently. Literally, God had determined to;
1. restrict or restrain the transgression (also translated rebellion)
2. seal up their sins (as if putting them away in a sealed container)
3. make atonement (restitution) for their iniquity
4. bring them into a state of everlasting righteousness
5. seal up (same word as #2) vision and prophecy
6. anoint (consecrate) the most Holy place (sanctuary)
In plain language, God would put an end to their rebellion against Him, put away their sins and pay the penalties they had accrued, bring the people into a state of perpetual righteousness, fulfill the remaining prophecies, and anoint the Temple. This was to be accomplished through their Messiah (Jesus) because no one else could do it. Had they accepted Him as their savior their rebellion against God would have ended. Their sins would have all been forgiven, and the full penalty paid for them. They would have entered into a state of eternal righteousness, all their prophecies would have been fulfilled and the rebuilt temple would have been consecrated. It should be noted here that although it appears to have been accepted by Him, God never dwelt in the 2nd Temple, nor was the ark of the covenant and its mercy seat ever present therein.
Make no mistake about it. Jesus had to die so these 6 promises could come true. No one else in Heaven or on Earth could accomplish this. We can only imagine how different things would have been if they had accepted Him as their Messiah and let Him die for their sins so He could bring them into everlasting righteousness with His resurrection.
Even though there were over 500 witnesses who could attest to having seen him after the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:6), there’s no indication that any official inquiry was undertaken to confirm that He had fulfilled His promise to return from the dead. Finally He left, but only until they admit their guilt (Hosea 5:15). As soon as they do He will forgive them (Joel 3:21) and restore their kingdom as He always intended to do.
In the mean time the Church was born into the gaps in these prophecies. Not as an alternative fulfillment like the replacement theologians would have you believe, but as a parallel track. When time stopped for Israel, it began for the Church, and when it ends for the Church it will begin again for Israel.
This is what the Lord says:
“Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 31:37) You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah 05-16-15.
Scattered throughout the Scriptures are prophecies that contain references to both the first and second coming of the Lord in what appears to be a single thought. These dual reference prophecies could only be identified as such after the first coming had already taken place. That’s because they were written in such a way that it was impossible to tell beforehand that the Lord’s first coming would only partially fulfill them. Often the writers switch from the first coming to the second coming in the middle of a sentence without so much as a punctuation mark to alert the reader.
In this study I want to share some thoughts on why I believe God had them written this way. But first, here are a couple of examples of these dual reference prophecies so you can see for yourself how cleverly they were written.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
When the Lord had Isaiah write this prophecy 750 years before the fact, no one could have known from reading it that when the Messiah came, He would only fulfill a portion of it. The child was born and the son was given, but the government has never been on His shoulders, and in Israel, to whom He was sent, He has never been called by the names Isaiah attributed to Him.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2)
This prophecy calls for a ruler of Israel to be born in Bethlehem but gives no indication that 2,000 years would pass between the ruler’s birth and His ascension to the throne of Israel. When the Parthian priests called Magi arrived in Jerusalem, they asked, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews?” (Matt. 2:2).
King Herod asked the Jewish leaders where the Messiah would be born, and they used this prophecy to confirm that He would be born in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:4-6). The Magi hastened there believing they were going to anoint a boy king who would grow up to rule over Israel. For his part, Herod had all the young boys in Bethlehem killed in an unsuccessful effort to eliminate what He perceived to be an imminent threat to his rulership. But while the coming king was born, He has yet to take His place on the throne in Israel.
The Secret Revealed
30 years later, it was Jesus himself who revealed the fact that there was more to these prophecies than meets the eye. Standing in the synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of His ministry, he called for the scroll of Isaiah and read from what we know as Isaiah 61:1-2.“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
Then He said He was the fulfillment of the Scripture He had just read. Comparing this to what Isaiah 61:1-2 actually says shows that He stopped before the end of verse 2, leaving out the phrase “and the day of vengeance of our God.”
Without the benefit of Luke 4:18-19, a reading of Isaiah 61:1-2 would lead us to the conclusion that the day of vengeance, what we now call end times judgments, would take place directly after the Lord had finished preaching the good news, freeing the prisoners, giving sight to the blind and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor. By stopping where He did and saying He was its fulfillment, He indicated He hadn’t come to fulfill the part He hadn’t read. There would be a separation of time between the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of His vengeance.
There are several other dual reference prophecies that we who already know about the first coming can identify. Perhaps the most obvious is Daniel 9:24-27, the 70 weeks prophecy, where if you didn’t already know that 2,000 years have passed since the fulfillment of the first 69 weeks of the prophecy (Daniel 9:24-26) without any fulfillment of the 70th week portion (Daniel 9:27) you wouldn’t be able to tell just by reading it, because there’s not even a hint of a gap between them in the text.
Why Didn’t You Say So?
But our purpose is not to identify all these prophecies. The question we want to answer is why did God hide this dual reference aspect of Messianic prophecy so completely that it could only be discovered after the fact? Knowing the end from the beginning, He knew that Jesus was only going to partially fulfill the prophecies that spoke of His coming, so why didn’t He have the prophets present them that way?Some say He did it to provide “hidden” clues to the Church that He always knew about our time and place in history without alerting Israel to the fact ahead of time.
But as a result of some of my recent studies, I’ve concluded that God had these prophecies written in this particular way to show Israel that they could have been fulfilled just the way they were written. For generations, Israel had been reading and interpreting them to mean that the Messiah would come once and when He did He would fulfill all the prophecies written about Him. In fact it would have been impossible for them to interpret them any other way.
In the time leading up to the first coming, Israel believed when the Messiah came he would vanquish their enemies and restore their kingdom, because that’s what these prophecies said He would do. In fact, even after spending three years with Jesus, the disciples still asked Him if the time had come for Him to restore the Kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6). This tells us in all His time with them Jesus never mentioned an extended period of time during which Israel would be set aside while His attention would be focused on the Gentiles.
By the way, I think His uncharacteristically vague response to their question is a hint that restoring the Kingdom to Israel at that time was still a possibility. They had just presented Him with a perfect opportunity to lay everything out clearly to better prepare them for the years ahead. But instead, He left them hanging. “It’s not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority” (Acts 1:7). To me that indicates the offer of the Kingdom to Israel was still open.
They didn’t know for certain that Israel was being set aside in favor of the Gentiles until 20 years later when James told them (Acts 15:13-18) and even then they didn’t know for how long. James only said that when the Lord had taken (carried away) a people for Himself from among the Gentiles He would turn back to Israel again. In other words, He would resume His focus on Israel after the rapture of the Church.
It Could Have Happened Just That Way
The dual reference prophecies were written in a way that would have made the total fulfillment possible at the time of the first coming. Had Israel accepted Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and let Him die for them, the six objectives laid out by the angel in Daniel 9:24 could have been met within the prescribed 490 year period.Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and your Holy City to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most Holy (place) (Daniel 9:24).
Sitting upon His heavenly throne, God decreed that six things would be accomplished for Daniel’s people (Israel) and Daniel’s Holy City (Jerusalem) during a specified period of 490 years.
We should be aware that in Hebrew these things read a little differently. Literally, God had determined to;
1. restrict or restrain the transgression (also translated rebellion)
2. seal up their sins (as if putting them away in a sealed container)
3. make atonement (restitution) for their iniquity
4. bring them into a state of everlasting righteousness
5. seal up (same word as #2) vision and prophecy
6. anoint (consecrate) the most Holy place (sanctuary)
In plain language, God would put an end to their rebellion against Him, put away their sins and pay the penalties they had accrued, bring the people into a state of perpetual righteousness, fulfill the remaining prophecies, and anoint the Temple. This was to be accomplished through their Messiah (Jesus) because no one else could do it. Had they accepted Him as their savior their rebellion against God would have ended. Their sins would have all been forgiven, and the full penalty paid for them. They would have entered into a state of eternal righteousness, all their prophecies would have been fulfilled and the rebuilt temple would have been consecrated. It should be noted here that although it appears to have been accepted by Him, God never dwelt in the 2nd Temple, nor was the ark of the covenant and its mercy seat ever present therein.
Make no mistake about it. Jesus had to die so these 6 promises could come true. No one else in Heaven or on Earth could accomplish this. We can only imagine how different things would have been if they had accepted Him as their Messiah and let Him die for their sins so He could bring them into everlasting righteousness with His resurrection.
The Sign Of The Prophet Jonah
And even though the religious leaders had fought Jesus tooth and nail throughout His ministry, He gave them one more chance by offering the clearest and most convincing sign possible. He promised that when they put Him to death He would come back to life three days later (Matt. 12:38-40). Since they wouldn’t know if He fulfilled this promise until after the fact, He determined to wait for them to recognize that He had. I believe this is why He stayed around for 40 days after the resurrection.Even though there were over 500 witnesses who could attest to having seen him after the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:6), there’s no indication that any official inquiry was undertaken to confirm that He had fulfilled His promise to return from the dead. Finally He left, but only until they admit their guilt (Hosea 5:15). As soon as they do He will forgive them (Joel 3:21) and restore their kingdom as He always intended to do.
In the mean time the Church was born into the gaps in these prophecies. Not as an alternative fulfillment like the replacement theologians would have you believe, but as a parallel track. When time stopped for Israel, it began for the Church, and when it ends for the Church it will begin again for Israel.
This is what the Lord says:
“Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 31:37) You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah 05-16-15.
Monday, November 10, 2014
And Such Were Some Of You
A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:9-11).
Of all the questions about OSAS, those that refer to the above passage are among the most numerous. On its face, the first part of 1 Cor. 6:9-10 seems pretty clear, the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God. No argument there. It’s Christianity 101. And the examples Paul used to show what he meant by “unrighteous” are all clear violations of God’s Law.
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
Some of his examples, like fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals, and sodomites appear on most lists of “big” sins. These are sins that lots of people hate, and while they are certainly sins, their notoriety causes some people to gloss over the other ones Paul mentioned. Stealing, coveting, drunkenness and reviling (criticizing in an abusive or insulting manner) often get ignored in people’s minds, having been overshadowed by “the big ones.”
And, at least among the people who send me questions, it seems that many people don’t even take a glance at 1 Cor. 6:11, And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
For that reason, I’d like to take a detailed look at the whole passage to see if we can figure out what Paul really meant here.
If we really read that verse carefully we would see it can’t apply to believers because we are righteous by definition. We have a righteousness from God apart from the law that comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (Romans 3:21-22). The examples of unrighteousness Paul gave all have to do with behavior, whereas our righteousness comes from our belief.
Where behavior is concerned, Jesus said it doesn’t take unrighteous acts to disqualify us from the Kingdom, it only takes an unrighteous thought. He gave anger (Matt. 5:21-22) and lust (Matt. 5:27-28) as examples but He could have listed many more, like greed, envy, jealousy, and the list goes on. How many of us have unrighteous thoughts from time to time? Does that mean we’ve disqualified ourselves from inheriting the kingdom? Of course not.
But the real kicker in in verse 11. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Paul said some of us were fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, or extortioners. And from the Lord’s comments above we can assume that includes thoughts and words, as well as deeds. But note the past tense. We were like that. What has changed to make us not like that any more?
First, we have been washed. We haven’t washed ourselves, we’ve been washed. In Ephesians 5:26 Paul said it’s the Lord who washed us, cleansing us by washing us with water through the word.
Then, we were sanctified. It means to be made holy. Again, we didn’t sanctify ourselves, it was done to us. When Jesus washed us it was so He could present us to Himself as a radiant Church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (Ephes 5:27), sanctified.
And finally, we were justified. It means to render righteous. The Greek word for justified is the opposite form of the word translated unrighteous in verse 9. This refers to the righteousness that has been imputed to us by faith. And like we didn’t do the washing and the sanctifying, we didn’t render ourselves righteous, either. It was done to us, in the name of Jesus, by the Spirit of God.
When that happened we became a new creation in Christ. From God’s perspective, the old us was gone and the new us had come (2 Cor. 5:17). And though we still sin, He no longer attributes our sins to us, but to the sin that still lives within us. He knows our sin infested bodies will never leave this world. They will either die or be changed at the rapture, so when we come into His presence we’ll be the new creation He has chosen to see from the moment we were saved.
Paul used himself as an example of how God now sees us.
For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it (Romans 7:18-20).
David gave us a glimpse of this 1,000 years before Paul when he wrote;
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit (Psalm 32:1-2), and
As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12).
This explains how God can “render us righteous” while we’re still sinners. He separated the believer from the behavior, making the believer a new creation, holy and blameless, and attributing behavior that is not consistent with His new creation to the sin that still dwells within us. He knows the cause of our sinful behavior resides in the mortal part of us that will die or be changed. Our faith in what Jesus did for us allows Him to consider only the immortal part of us, which He will soon clothe in perfection. This is the only way He could guarantee our salvation from the time we became believers, because if it depended upon our behavior we would all have been lost again shortly after we were saved.
But those who make predictions of this sort overlook three important facts. The first is, by and large even unbelievers are reasonably well behaved, and they don’t have the fear of losing their salvation to restrain them. Romans 2:14 says those who don’t know God’s law, do by nature the things required by it, because it’s written on our hearts, and our own conscience acts as a guiding influence on our behavior.
The second is the indwelling Holy Spirit, sealed inside us when we were saved, to convict us of our sins, guide us into all truth, and counsel us on appropriate behavior. Remember, Paul said it’s God who makes us stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come (2 Cor. 1:21-22).
And the third is our gratitude. The great majority of those who believe we’re saved by grace through faith alone are so grateful for such an amazing gift that we try not to behave in ways that would embarrass the Lord in an attempt to express our gratitude. Paul called it “living up to what we’ve already attained” (Phil. 3:16).
But because of His great love for us God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved (Ephes. 2:4-5).
Our relationship with the Lord is not due to the fact that one day we decided to clean ourselves up and make ourselves fit to be in His presence. In Ephes. 2: 8-9 he said we are saved by grace through faith, and not by works. God accepted us just as we are because of His mercy, and saved us because of His grace. Our only contribution was to ask in faith. And then, before we had done anything, good or bad, He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within us as a deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance (Ephes. 1:13-14).
We can’t claim our faith in God’s mercy and grace as the sole basis for our salvation and then demand that others meet certain behavioral standards in order to receive or maintain theirs. The fact that one person commits sins that are more obvious than others is irrelevant. Sin is sin, and we all do it.
He didn’t save us because we behave a certain way. He saved us because we believe a certain thing.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:9-11).
Of all the questions about OSAS, those that refer to the above passage are among the most numerous. On its face, the first part of 1 Cor. 6:9-10 seems pretty clear, the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God. No argument there. It’s Christianity 101. And the examples Paul used to show what he meant by “unrighteous” are all clear violations of God’s Law.
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
Some of his examples, like fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals, and sodomites appear on most lists of “big” sins. These are sins that lots of people hate, and while they are certainly sins, their notoriety causes some people to gloss over the other ones Paul mentioned. Stealing, coveting, drunkenness and reviling (criticizing in an abusive or insulting manner) often get ignored in people’s minds, having been overshadowed by “the big ones.”
And, at least among the people who send me questions, it seems that many people don’t even take a glance at 1 Cor. 6:11, And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
For that reason, I’d like to take a detailed look at the whole passage to see if we can figure out what Paul really meant here.
A Closer Look
First, let’s go back to 1 Cor. 6:9. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?If we really read that verse carefully we would see it can’t apply to believers because we are righteous by definition. We have a righteousness from God apart from the law that comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (Romans 3:21-22). The examples of unrighteousness Paul gave all have to do with behavior, whereas our righteousness comes from our belief.
Where behavior is concerned, Jesus said it doesn’t take unrighteous acts to disqualify us from the Kingdom, it only takes an unrighteous thought. He gave anger (Matt. 5:21-22) and lust (Matt. 5:27-28) as examples but He could have listed many more, like greed, envy, jealousy, and the list goes on. How many of us have unrighteous thoughts from time to time? Does that mean we’ve disqualified ourselves from inheriting the kingdom? Of course not.
But the real kicker in in verse 11. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Paul said some of us were fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, or extortioners. And from the Lord’s comments above we can assume that includes thoughts and words, as well as deeds. But note the past tense. We were like that. What has changed to make us not like that any more?
First, we have been washed. We haven’t washed ourselves, we’ve been washed. In Ephesians 5:26 Paul said it’s the Lord who washed us, cleansing us by washing us with water through the word.
Then, we were sanctified. It means to be made holy. Again, we didn’t sanctify ourselves, it was done to us. When Jesus washed us it was so He could present us to Himself as a radiant Church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (Ephes 5:27), sanctified.
And finally, we were justified. It means to render righteous. The Greek word for justified is the opposite form of the word translated unrighteous in verse 9. This refers to the righteousness that has been imputed to us by faith. And like we didn’t do the washing and the sanctifying, we didn’t render ourselves righteous, either. It was done to us, in the name of Jesus, by the Spirit of God.
When that happened we became a new creation in Christ. From God’s perspective, the old us was gone and the new us had come (2 Cor. 5:17). And though we still sin, He no longer attributes our sins to us, but to the sin that still lives within us. He knows our sin infested bodies will never leave this world. They will either die or be changed at the rapture, so when we come into His presence we’ll be the new creation He has chosen to see from the moment we were saved.
Paul used himself as an example of how God now sees us.
For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it (Romans 7:18-20).
David gave us a glimpse of this 1,000 years before Paul when he wrote;
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit (Psalm 32:1-2), and
As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12).
This explains how God can “render us righteous” while we’re still sinners. He separated the believer from the behavior, making the believer a new creation, holy and blameless, and attributing behavior that is not consistent with His new creation to the sin that still dwells within us. He knows the cause of our sinful behavior resides in the mortal part of us that will die or be changed. Our faith in what Jesus did for us allows Him to consider only the immortal part of us, which He will soon clothe in perfection. This is the only way He could guarantee our salvation from the time we became believers, because if it depended upon our behavior we would all have been lost again shortly after we were saved.
A License To Sin?
This interpretation of Scripture has been called “giving people a license to sin” by some. They love to cite hypothetical examples of worst case scenarios that frankly never happen. For example, I had one person warn me that if my interpretation ever became accepted by the majority of believers then, in his words, “Let the rape and pillage begin,” as if to say that unless Christians are held in check by the constant fear of losing their salvation there would be no end to the evil acts we would commit.But those who make predictions of this sort overlook three important facts. The first is, by and large even unbelievers are reasonably well behaved, and they don’t have the fear of losing their salvation to restrain them. Romans 2:14 says those who don’t know God’s law, do by nature the things required by it, because it’s written on our hearts, and our own conscience acts as a guiding influence on our behavior.
The second is the indwelling Holy Spirit, sealed inside us when we were saved, to convict us of our sins, guide us into all truth, and counsel us on appropriate behavior. Remember, Paul said it’s God who makes us stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come (2 Cor. 1:21-22).
And the third is our gratitude. The great majority of those who believe we’re saved by grace through faith alone are so grateful for such an amazing gift that we try not to behave in ways that would embarrass the Lord in an attempt to express our gratitude. Paul called it “living up to what we’ve already attained” (Phil. 3:16).
Where Are You From?
It’s easy for us to lose sight of where we came from, so Paul reminded us in Ephesians 2. He began by saying that at one time we were dead in our transgressions and sins, by nature objects of wrath (Ephes. 2:1-3).But because of His great love for us God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved (Ephes. 2:4-5).
Our relationship with the Lord is not due to the fact that one day we decided to clean ourselves up and make ourselves fit to be in His presence. In Ephes. 2: 8-9 he said we are saved by grace through faith, and not by works. God accepted us just as we are because of His mercy, and saved us because of His grace. Our only contribution was to ask in faith. And then, before we had done anything, good or bad, He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within us as a deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance (Ephes. 1:13-14).
We can’t claim our faith in God’s mercy and grace as the sole basis for our salvation and then demand that others meet certain behavioral standards in order to receive or maintain theirs. The fact that one person commits sins that are more obvious than others is irrelevant. Sin is sin, and we all do it.
He didn’t save us because we behave a certain way. He saved us because we believe a certain thing.
In A Nutshell
If you’re a human being, you’re a sinner. If you’re a saved human being, your faith in what Jesus did for you has allowed God to attribute your ongoing sinfulness to the sin that still lives within you. From His perspective it’s not you doing the sinning, but the sin that still lives within you. One day soon, you will shed that sinful part of yourself forever, and you will be clothed in perfection in preparation for your eternal life with the Lord. You will have finally been conformed to His image, just as God has always intended for you to be (Romans 8:29-30). Selah 11-08-14Sunday, October 19, 2014
Keeping it Simple
A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
Mankind has a propensity for taking simple things and making them complex, often confusing himself in the process. Some say this began with the serpent’s question to Eve, “Did God really say…?”(Genesis 3:1). Lets look at some of the simple things of the Bible that man has tried to complicate and ask ourselves if we’re better off with man’s opinion or would it make more sense to keep it simple and stick with what the Bible says.
The best man has come up with is that we’re really the product of random chance. The Big Bang theory and Evolution are called laws of nature by some, but in fact, they violate natural law. Things in nature don’t naturally evolve from randomness, or chaos, into order. In fact they go the other way. The evidence is all around us. Your house, your car, your body, and everything else that’s been created or made or manufactured confirms that absent some kind of preventive maintenance, the natural way is devolution, from order into chaos. Everything breaks down, wears out, rusts, rots, or dies. There’s no way around it.
And the best preventive maintenance can only retard the devolution process. It can never reverse it, let alone turn something into something else. Order into chaos, order into chaos. That’s nature’s way. Some folks want you to ignore this simple fact and believe that where you’re concerned, natural law was spontaneously reversed for no reason at all so that the amoeba that became the fish that became the monkey could become you. If we can’t believe the very first thing God said to us, how can we be sure about anything else He said?
The simple thing is to believe God.
But right from the beginning, man has tried to earn his own way into God’s Kingdom. Some have multiplied God’s laws by adding many others, while others have ignored His laws, substituting their own instead. Either way man has made his existence here on earth miserable as he labors to prove that he doesn’t need God’s free pardon, living a life of guilt and fear in a vain attempt to earn something that has been offered to Him for free.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Some men have imposed conditions without number to this unconditional promise. They say you must have been chosen in advance by God, or belong to a certain denomination, or behave in a certain way, give a certain amount, maintain certain standards, avoid certain food or drink, etc, etc. Others say you don’t have to accept God’s terms at all. Just try to do the best you can and treat others nicely. You’ll have a chance after you die to sit down and work it all out with God. Still others say it doesn’t matter who your god is. As long as you’re sincere in your belief, you’ll find your way to eternal life. Jesus said all these ways lead to destruction (Matt. 7:13-14).
The simple thing is to believe God.
Man says something different. Some say the Holy Spirit doesn’t come all at once. You get a little bit when you’re saved and more when you’re worthy. You’ll know you’re worthy when you receive a certain Spiritual gift that tells you and others that you’ve made it. They also say the Holy Spirit isn’t permanently sealed within you. He’ll leave you if you don’t behave right or if you decide you don’t want Him any more. And once He’s gone you can never get Him back. Scary.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Man says you have to figure out what you want and then strive to get it. Work hard and sacrifice much, and you’ll be rewarded. The stress you feel from the job, and the difficulty you have staying connected at home are just part of the deal. And when you become successful, if it wasn’t all you hoped it would be, well everybody feels that way. The more you have, the better you’ll feel. Stay with it.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Man says some folks don’t deserve to be forgiven. Make them prove that they’ve earned it before you let them off the hook. Besides, maybe it’s you. Maybe you’re just too weak, too naive. As you become more skeptical, less trusting, you’ll find people won’t take advantage so often. Don’t get mad, get even.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Some pastors say you owe a debt to God and if you don’t pay it back to the church you’ll be cursed. Others say you worked hard for your money and it’s yours to do with as you please. Why give any of it to a bunch of do-gooders who’ll just waste it on people who don’t deserve it. Give enough to keep them off your back, if you must, but not so much as to cramp your lifestyle.
The simple thing is to believe God.
As a result the Book of Daniel became the most thoroughly validated Book in the entire Bible. And yet some still deny its authenticity, in spite of the fact that Daniel also predicted the rise of Alexander the Great (Daniel 7:6, 8:5-8, 8:21-22), named the exact day that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem as Israel’s Messiah, and foretold His Crucifixion, as well as the city’s subsequent destruction as (Daniel 9:26).
Zechariah prophesied that the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zech. 9:9), then be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver with the money being thrown into the Temple for the purchase of a potter’s field (Zech 11:12-13). Micah prophesied that He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Isaiah that He would be the Son of God (Isaiah 9:6), born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), pierced for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:5), though innocent would offer no defense (Isaiah 53:7), be buried in a rich man’s grave (Isaiah 53:9), and come back from the dead (Isaiah 53:11). Amos said the sun would go down at noon on the day He was crucified (Amos 8:9-10). There well are over a hundred more that pertain to the first coming but you get the idea.
In spite of this, some of the very men and women who make a career out of studying the Word of God resort to extreme measures in their attempts to convince us that God is unreliable at best and at worst a liar. And to what end? If they were diplomats and worked this hard at undermining the principles on which our country is founded, they’d be charged with treason. If they were managers who were committed to destroying the public’s perception of their company’s product, they’d be fired. But since they claim to be Christians we call them scholars. “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,” Paul wrote, “And the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate” (1 Cor. 1:19) He was quoting from Isaiah 29:14.
The simple thing is to believe God.
If you’re from Israel and your neighbors are publicly planning your destruction, and take every olive branch you hand them then turn it into another excuse to attack, you need to know that the One who gave you the land you’re standing on will keep His promise that it’s yours forever.
When your eternal destiny hangs in the balance, you need to be certain that the One Who says He surrendered His life to redeem yours really did.
The End of the Age is upon us. It’s time to stop debating and start believing the simple truth of the Bible. God is Who He says He is and He did what He said He would do. And in the 6000 years of man’s relationship with Him, not one of the 14 billion of us who’ve walked this earth has ever been able to successfully refute this. Conversely, proof of His existence is so far beyond the limits of mere probability that it’s no longer debatable. Therefore belief in Him is a choice we make. It’s time to choose and be done with it. Like my favorite bumper sticker says, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” It’s the simple thing to do. Selah 10-18-14.
Mankind has a propensity for taking simple things and making them complex, often confusing himself in the process. Some say this began with the serpent’s question to Eve, “Did God really say…?”(Genesis 3:1). Lets look at some of the simple things of the Bible that man has tried to complicate and ask ourselves if we’re better off with man’s opinion or would it make more sense to keep it simple and stick with what the Bible says.
Creation
God said His work of creation required six days and He rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:1-2). There was no one around who could dispute His claim but that hasn’t stopped man from proposing alternatives.The best man has come up with is that we’re really the product of random chance. The Big Bang theory and Evolution are called laws of nature by some, but in fact, they violate natural law. Things in nature don’t naturally evolve from randomness, or chaos, into order. In fact they go the other way. The evidence is all around us. Your house, your car, your body, and everything else that’s been created or made or manufactured confirms that absent some kind of preventive maintenance, the natural way is devolution, from order into chaos. Everything breaks down, wears out, rusts, rots, or dies. There’s no way around it.
And the best preventive maintenance can only retard the devolution process. It can never reverse it, let alone turn something into something else. Order into chaos, order into chaos. That’s nature’s way. Some folks want you to ignore this simple fact and believe that where you’re concerned, natural law was spontaneously reversed for no reason at all so that the amoeba that became the fish that became the monkey could become you. If we can’t believe the very first thing God said to us, how can we be sure about anything else He said?
The simple thing is to believe God.
Salvation
God said we’re saved by grace through faith, not by works. (Ephesians 2:8-9) He doesn’t want anyone bragging that he earned his own way into the kingdom, and knows that we can’t do it anyway. He gave man a set of laws that were impossible to keep but which defined the standard He required of us. Then He sent His Son to keep those laws for us and give His life to purchase an unconditional pardon that releases us from the penalty of breaking them (Colossians 2:13-14). He said this is the only way we can be saved (John 14:6, Acts 4:12). All we have to do is believe in the one He sent (John 6:28-29) admit we’re sinners, ask for His pardon, and accept it in faith (Romans 10:13).But right from the beginning, man has tried to earn his own way into God’s Kingdom. Some have multiplied God’s laws by adding many others, while others have ignored His laws, substituting their own instead. Either way man has made his existence here on earth miserable as he labors to prove that he doesn’t need God’s free pardon, living a life of guilt and fear in a vain attempt to earn something that has been offered to Him for free.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Agency
God said that anyone who wants to can choose this pardon and have eternal life. It’s free for the asking irrespective of merit or worthiness (Matt. 7:7-8). It doesn’t matter if you’re a Jew or Gentile, free or slave, male or female, civilized or barbarian (Galatians 3:26-29). If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you’ll be saved (Romans 10:9). You have your entire lifetime to make your choice. However when you die His offer of pardon expires (Hebrews 9:27).Some men have imposed conditions without number to this unconditional promise. They say you must have been chosen in advance by God, or belong to a certain denomination, or behave in a certain way, give a certain amount, maintain certain standards, avoid certain food or drink, etc, etc. Others say you don’t have to accept God’s terms at all. Just try to do the best you can and treat others nicely. You’ll have a chance after you die to sit down and work it all out with God. Still others say it doesn’t matter who your god is. As long as you’re sincere in your belief, you’ll find your way to eternal life. Jesus said all these ways lead to destruction (Matt. 7:13-14).
The simple thing is to believe God.
Security
God says that when you’re saved He sends His Holy Spirit to dwell within you, sealed there as a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance (Ephesians 1:13-14). It’s the down payment on His promise never to leave you or forsake you. God Himself will make you stand firm (2 Cor. 1:21-22), and there’s no one who can take you out of His hand (John 10:27-30). His Spirit will also guide you and advise you on behavior that’s pleasing to Him, not to earn His favor but as a way to express your gratitude for already having received it. Your behavior is still your own choice and when you sin, as we all do, the Holy Spirit will prompt you to confess so you can be forgiven and preserve your intimate relationship with God (1 John 1:9).Man says something different. Some say the Holy Spirit doesn’t come all at once. You get a little bit when you’re saved and more when you’re worthy. You’ll know you’re worthy when you receive a certain Spiritual gift that tells you and others that you’ve made it. They also say the Holy Spirit isn’t permanently sealed within you. He’ll leave you if you don’t behave right or if you decide you don’t want Him any more. And once He’s gone you can never get Him back. Scary.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Abundant Life
God says that you shouldn’t worry about how your life will work out, that He’ll take care of it. Since He takes care of little birds and flowers, that aren’t worth anywhere near what you are to Him, He’ll certainly watch out for you. “Seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness,” He says, “And I’ll take care of everything (Matt. 6:31-33). After all, I came to Earth so that you could have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). So don’t conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).Man says you have to figure out what you want and then strive to get it. Work hard and sacrifice much, and you’ll be rewarded. The stress you feel from the job, and the difficulty you have staying connected at home are just part of the deal. And when you become successful, if it wasn’t all you hoped it would be, well everybody feels that way. The more you have, the better you’ll feel. Stay with it.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Forgiveness
God says to forgive as you’ve been forgiven, that nothing someone does to you can ever approximate what you’ve done to God. (Matt. 18:32-33) And since He’s forgiven you unconditionally, you should do the same. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. Don’t give the devil a foothold. “Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord. “It’s mine to repay.”Man says some folks don’t deserve to be forgiven. Make them prove that they’ve earned it before you let them off the hook. Besides, maybe it’s you. Maybe you’re just too weak, too naive. As you become more skeptical, less trusting, you’ll find people won’t take advantage so often. Don’t get mad, get even.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Giving
Jesus said don’t store up treasure on earth, where it can be stolen or destroyed. Instead, store up treasure in heaven where nothing can happen to it (Matt. 6:19-21). He said, “Give and it will be given to you, for with the measure you use it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38). Paul confirmed this. He said if we sow sparingly we’ll reap sparingly, but if we sow generously we’ll also reap generously. He said we should decide in our own heart what to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:6-7). He said our generosity will be rewarded with blessing and we’ll be made rich in every way so we can be generous on every occasion (2 Cor. 9:10-11).Some pastors say you owe a debt to God and if you don’t pay it back to the church you’ll be cursed. Others say you worked hard for your money and it’s yours to do with as you please. Why give any of it to a bunch of do-gooders who’ll just waste it on people who don’t deserve it. Give enough to keep them off your back, if you must, but not so much as to cramp your lifestyle.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Prophecy
God said he would never do anything without first revealing it through His servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7) For over 6,000 years now He’s had a perfect record of first saying what He’ll do and then doing it. But many scholars call predictive prophecy a sham and go to great lengths to try and disprove its reliability. For example, when history documented that Daniel 11:1-35 contained 135 fulfilled prophecies, scholars tried to say it was written after the fact.As a result the Book of Daniel became the most thoroughly validated Book in the entire Bible. And yet some still deny its authenticity, in spite of the fact that Daniel also predicted the rise of Alexander the Great (Daniel 7:6, 8:5-8, 8:21-22), named the exact day that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem as Israel’s Messiah, and foretold His Crucifixion, as well as the city’s subsequent destruction as (Daniel 9:26).
Zechariah prophesied that the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zech. 9:9), then be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver with the money being thrown into the Temple for the purchase of a potter’s field (Zech 11:12-13). Micah prophesied that He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Isaiah that He would be the Son of God (Isaiah 9:6), born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), pierced for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:5), though innocent would offer no defense (Isaiah 53:7), be buried in a rich man’s grave (Isaiah 53:9), and come back from the dead (Isaiah 53:11). Amos said the sun would go down at noon on the day He was crucified (Amos 8:9-10). There well are over a hundred more that pertain to the first coming but you get the idea.
In spite of this, some of the very men and women who make a career out of studying the Word of God resort to extreme measures in their attempts to convince us that God is unreliable at best and at worst a liar. And to what end? If they were diplomats and worked this hard at undermining the principles on which our country is founded, they’d be charged with treason. If they were managers who were committed to destroying the public’s perception of their company’s product, they’d be fired. But since they claim to be Christians we call them scholars. “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,” Paul wrote, “And the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate” (1 Cor. 1:19) He was quoting from Isaiah 29:14.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Conclusion
These are harsh and perilous times and now, more than ever, we need someone we can rely on who is utterly dependable. When the hurricane’s threatening to blow you down, and the flood waters are rising fast, you don’t want to be worrying whether the One you’re praying to is committed to your well being.If you’re from Israel and your neighbors are publicly planning your destruction, and take every olive branch you hand them then turn it into another excuse to attack, you need to know that the One who gave you the land you’re standing on will keep His promise that it’s yours forever.
When your eternal destiny hangs in the balance, you need to be certain that the One Who says He surrendered His life to redeem yours really did.
The End of the Age is upon us. It’s time to stop debating and start believing the simple truth of the Bible. God is Who He says He is and He did what He said He would do. And in the 6000 years of man’s relationship with Him, not one of the 14 billion of us who’ve walked this earth has ever been able to successfully refute this. Conversely, proof of His existence is so far beyond the limits of mere probability that it’s no longer debatable. Therefore belief in Him is a choice we make. It’s time to choose and be done with it. Like my favorite bumper sticker says, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” It’s the simple thing to do. Selah 10-18-14.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Hear, O Israel
Reblogged from Prophecy in The News
Jews refer to this verse as the “Shema,” from its first Hebrew word: “Shema Israel,” meaning “Hear, O Israel…” These strong words are a direct command to the twelve tribes to listen carefully to the message that follows them. They are a constant reminder to Israel that it must never forget the proclamations of the Lord, even to the point of attaching them to their doorposts and wearing them on their bodies, in the form of tefillin.
On the right side of the main entrance to a home or building, a few of the key verses from this section of Scripture are attached in place. They are rolled up as a miniature scroll and inserted into a small case called a “mezuzah,” which happens to be the Hebrew word for “doorpost.” Thus, they are upheld as one of the most important parts of the Torah. When passing through such a doorway, Jews pay respect to the presence of the Word of God by lightly kissing their fingers, then touching the mezuzah. Its presence there is considered to be a blessing to the household. But its key Scriptural admonition is for those who live there to “hear,” that is, to remember and understand.
God requires the faithful to “hear” Him, but hearing requires more than mere exposure to the Word. The interpretive power of the Holy Spirit must be present in the believer before the full meaning of the Word becomes clear.
Jesus illustrated this to His disciples following His rejection by the leaders of national Israel, as told in Matthew 12. There, we find the narrative of the Pharisees attributing the power of Jesus’ work to Satan, rather than the Holy Spirit. In the chapter which follows — Matthew 13 — He began to speak of the Kingdom in parables. His disciples wondered why He did this, instead of speaking plainly. His answer is quite clear in its implications:
“11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matt. 13:11-13).
Jesus here announces that He has acted judicially against the House of David — in effect cutting off their hearing because of their unbelief. In fact, Scripture is full of pictures of the hearing of faith versus the deafness and blindness of unbelief.
The event in question comes as Jesus is betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane. As Judas approaches with an assorted band of soldiers and Temple officials, he comes before Jesus and greets Him with the infamous kiss of betrayal.
Making no resistance, Jesus announces His identity to the crowd, uttering His authoritative, “I am.” But one of His disciples, in a burst of zeal, draws his sword and lunges at the servant of the high priest. This is first mentioned in Matthew 26:51:
“51 And behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear.”
Virtually the same account is given in Mark 14:47. Here, however, the swordsman is described simply as a bystander:
“47 And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.”
Again in Luke 22:50 and 51, the brief narrative of this event is given. This time, however, even more new detail is added:
“50 And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. 51 And Jesus answered and said, suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.”
Now we see that after the ear is cut off, Jesus, in some miraculous way, restores it fully — in the end, it is completely healed. Again, in the book of John, the record of this event is given, now in its most complete form. Here, we find Simon Peter named as the swordsman and Malchus identified as the servant of the High Priest. It tells us, “10 Then Simon Peter having a sword, drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it” (Jn. 18:10, 11).
Jesus clearly states that His mission is not to make war against the political and religious system of the world, but to do the will of His heavenly Father. This is but one of many times that Christ must rebuke Peter, who is both quick to hear and quick to forget. But the event is a beautiful prophetic foretelling of the healing of Israel that will come in the Kingdom Age.
As he had often done before, Peter impulsively lunged forth to do
what he thought was right at the moment. No doubt, he felt that
attacking the High Priest’s representative would give him the best
chance at forestalling Jesus’ arrest. Since he attacked with a sword, he
probably meant to leave Malchus with a mortal wound.
But Peter was a fisherman, not a trained swordsman. Malchus must have dodged at the last moment. Instead of his throat or chest, Peter took only an ear. Significantly, however, it was the ear of the servant of the High Priest.
In the Old Testament, the same name appears as “Simeon,” who was Jacob’s second son through Leah. At his birth she names him on the basis that God had heard of her plight:
“And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon” (Genesis 29:33).
Simeon was named for the hearing of the Lord. In the New Testament, Simon Peter lives up to the meaning of his name. In Matthew 16:15 Jesus asks Simon, “But whom say ye that I am?” Of course, he then identifies Jesus as Messiah, the Son of God. The 17th verse then characterizes Simon’s spiritual hearing:
“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”
Here, Jesus acknowledges that Simon has ears to hear the revelation about Christ, which has come from heaven. Though he still has many tests ahead of him, Jesus takes this opportunity to surname him as Peter (meaning “rock”) signifying that he would become an immovable stone in the foundational structure of the church.
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
Ultimately, He will even heal national Israel, itself. In their own land, He will bring the Jews a Kingdom under His leadership, and their hearing will be restored so that they may once again serve a righteous priesthood. In a way, the wounding of Malchus (king) is a picture of the wounding of the true King, Jesus.
But more than that. The wounding of Malchus’ ear is curiously symbolic of the people of Israel. As a servant of the High Priest, Malchus depicts Israel’s role. Like him, Israel served a corrupt priesthood. They listened to the wrong voices and would soon call for the death of their Messiah. Their hearing had been cut off.
But Jesus healed the ear of Malchus. In so doing, He was prophetically acting out that future day when He would heal the hearing of Israel. In that day, they will serve Jesus as their true High Priest.
Peter correctly believed that Jesus was the Messiah and that He would bring the Kingdom to earth in the very near future. In the flesh, he acted on that belief, attempting to protect his King, even if it meant giving up his own life. Of course, he was wrong.
Once before, shortly after publicly proclaiming Jesus as Messiah, Peter had acted in the flesh. This incident is recounted in Matthew, where we read, “21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. 22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. (Matt. 16:21-23).
Jesus severely reprimanded Peter, even accusing him of acting in the spirit of Satan, rather than God. He knew that he must “suffer many things” in order to complete the plan of the ages.
Centuries before, Moses had spoken to his people about the power of the coming Messiah who would, in the end, avenge them for all that they would suffer at the hands of their enemies. In Deuteronomy 32, the Song of Moses opens with a ringing command: “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear. O earth, the words of my mouth.”
The context of Moses’ prophecy concludes with the judgment of the nations gathered against Israel during the Tribulation. In verse 44, it concludes with these telling words: “And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people….”
Once again, there is a clear linkage made between prophetic utterance and the ear. The ear of Malchus was once healed and made complete. We are never told what happened to him after that.
It is possible that, having experienced the loving touch of the Savior, he went on to become a Messianic believer. In that future day when Israel’s hearing is healed, that is precisely what they will become.
“23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. 24 And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. 25 And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, 26 Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: 27 For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it” (Acts 28:23-28).
In many of his epistles, Paul asks his listeners whether they can fully hear what he has to say: Gal. 3:2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Over and over again, Paul asks this basic question, based upon the
premise so firmly enunciated by Jesus, that faith is a matter of
spiritual hearing. Perhaps one of his most oft-repeated statements comes
from the letter to the Romans:
“17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
In this season, as we remember the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, we ponder the amazing fact that His own people couldn’t hear what He had to say. We should always remember that this is the perennial issue when we present the Gospel.
And we should always keep in mind that even the smallest details in the life of Christ are freighted with deep meaning.
In this season, we contemplate the amazing series of events given in the narrative of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. The dramatic story of His crucifixion began in the dark of night, when He was arrested and tried. A strange occurrence is mentioned in connection with this incident. Taken by itself, it seems almost superfluous. But its message is laden with deep meaning. It is the confrontation between Peter and Malchus, servant of the High Priest.Deuteronomy 6:4 is a pivotal verse in the life and history of Israel: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.” This command to “hear” signifies the hearing of the heart, not merely that of the ears. This verse is deemed so important that it is affixed to the doorposts of the Jewish faithful.
Jews refer to this verse as the “Shema,” from its first Hebrew word: “Shema Israel,” meaning “Hear, O Israel…” These strong words are a direct command to the twelve tribes to listen carefully to the message that follows them. They are a constant reminder to Israel that it must never forget the proclamations of the Lord, even to the point of attaching them to their doorposts and wearing them on their bodies, in the form of tefillin.
On the right side of the main entrance to a home or building, a few of the key verses from this section of Scripture are attached in place. They are rolled up as a miniature scroll and inserted into a small case called a “mezuzah,” which happens to be the Hebrew word for “doorpost.” Thus, they are upheld as one of the most important parts of the Torah. When passing through such a doorway, Jews pay respect to the presence of the Word of God by lightly kissing their fingers, then touching the mezuzah. Its presence there is considered to be a blessing to the household. But its key Scriptural admonition is for those who live there to “hear,” that is, to remember and understand.
God requires the faithful to “hear” Him, but hearing requires more than mere exposure to the Word. The interpretive power of the Holy Spirit must be present in the believer before the full meaning of the Word becomes clear.
Jesus illustrated this to His disciples following His rejection by the leaders of national Israel, as told in Matthew 12. There, we find the narrative of the Pharisees attributing the power of Jesus’ work to Satan, rather than the Holy Spirit. In the chapter which follows — Matthew 13 — He began to speak of the Kingdom in parables. His disciples wondered why He did this, instead of speaking plainly. His answer is quite clear in its implications:
“11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matt. 13:11-13).
Jesus here announces that He has acted judicially against the House of David — in effect cutting off their hearing because of their unbelief. In fact, Scripture is full of pictures of the hearing of faith versus the deafness and blindness of unbelief.
The Ear Is Cut Off
Later in the book of Matthew, a remarkable event takes place. It illustrates not only the principle of spiritual hearing, but may also present a prophetic picture of Israel’s spiritual future.The event in question comes as Jesus is betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane. As Judas approaches with an assorted band of soldiers and Temple officials, he comes before Jesus and greets Him with the infamous kiss of betrayal.
Making no resistance, Jesus announces His identity to the crowd, uttering His authoritative, “I am.” But one of His disciples, in a burst of zeal, draws his sword and lunges at the servant of the high priest. This is first mentioned in Matthew 26:51:
“51 And behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear.”
Virtually the same account is given in Mark 14:47. Here, however, the swordsman is described simply as a bystander:
“47 And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.”
Again in Luke 22:50 and 51, the brief narrative of this event is given. This time, however, even more new detail is added:
“50 And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. 51 And Jesus answered and said, suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.”
Now we see that after the ear is cut off, Jesus, in some miraculous way, restores it fully — in the end, it is completely healed. Again, in the book of John, the record of this event is given, now in its most complete form. Here, we find Simon Peter named as the swordsman and Malchus identified as the servant of the High Priest. It tells us, “10 Then Simon Peter having a sword, drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it” (Jn. 18:10, 11).
Jesus clearly states that His mission is not to make war against the political and religious system of the world, but to do the will of His heavenly Father. This is but one of many times that Christ must rebuke Peter, who is both quick to hear and quick to forget. But the event is a beautiful prophetic foretelling of the healing of Israel that will come in the Kingdom Age.
 |
| Add caption |
But Peter was a fisherman, not a trained swordsman. Malchus must have dodged at the last moment. Instead of his throat or chest, Peter took only an ear. Significantly, however, it was the ear of the servant of the High Priest.
Spiritual Hearing
Here, it is important to make a connection between an action and a word. Simon Peter’s first name comes from the Hebrew, shamah, meaning “hearing.” Scripturally, the name is applied to the gift of spiritual hearing, as given by the Holy Spirit. His role, as one chosen by Jesus as a founding father of the church, is centered on the fact that he has spiritual ears to hear.In the Old Testament, the same name appears as “Simeon,” who was Jacob’s second son through Leah. At his birth she names him on the basis that God had heard of her plight:
“And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon” (Genesis 29:33).
Simeon was named for the hearing of the Lord. In the New Testament, Simon Peter lives up to the meaning of his name. In Matthew 16:15 Jesus asks Simon, “But whom say ye that I am?” Of course, he then identifies Jesus as Messiah, the Son of God. The 17th verse then characterizes Simon’s spiritual hearing:
“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”
Here, Jesus acknowledges that Simon has ears to hear the revelation about Christ, which has come from heaven. Though he still has many tests ahead of him, Jesus takes this opportunity to surname him as Peter (meaning “rock”) signifying that he would become an immovable stone in the foundational structure of the church.
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
The Prophetic Picture
To complete the prophetic picture, we now come to the High Priest’s servant. His name—Malchus—is a linguistic variant of the Hebrew word melech meaning “king.” By the time this event took place, the leaders of national Israel had already rejected Jesus. The Jewish priesthood was under judgement. They were about to fully act out that judgment by wounding their true King. As Isaiah 53:5 says, “He was wounded for our transgressions …” But He was healed of those wounds, rising again to restore a world that sinned against Him.Ultimately, He will even heal national Israel, itself. In their own land, He will bring the Jews a Kingdom under His leadership, and their hearing will be restored so that they may once again serve a righteous priesthood. In a way, the wounding of Malchus (king) is a picture of the wounding of the true King, Jesus.
But more than that. The wounding of Malchus’ ear is curiously symbolic of the people of Israel. As a servant of the High Priest, Malchus depicts Israel’s role. Like him, Israel served a corrupt priesthood. They listened to the wrong voices and would soon call for the death of their Messiah. Their hearing had been cut off.
But Jesus healed the ear of Malchus. In so doing, He was prophetically acting out that future day when He would heal the hearing of Israel. In that day, they will serve Jesus as their true High Priest.
Peter correctly believed that Jesus was the Messiah and that He would bring the Kingdom to earth in the very near future. In the flesh, he acted on that belief, attempting to protect his King, even if it meant giving up his own life. Of course, he was wrong.
Once before, shortly after publicly proclaiming Jesus as Messiah, Peter had acted in the flesh. This incident is recounted in Matthew, where we read, “21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. 22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. (Matt. 16:21-23).
Jesus severely reprimanded Peter, even accusing him of acting in the spirit of Satan, rather than God. He knew that he must “suffer many things” in order to complete the plan of the ages.
Centuries before, Moses had spoken to his people about the power of the coming Messiah who would, in the end, avenge them for all that they would suffer at the hands of their enemies. In Deuteronomy 32, the Song of Moses opens with a ringing command: “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear. O earth, the words of my mouth.”
The context of Moses’ prophecy concludes with the judgment of the nations gathered against Israel during the Tribulation. In verse 44, it concludes with these telling words: “And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people….”
Once again, there is a clear linkage made between prophetic utterance and the ear. The ear of Malchus was once healed and made complete. We are never told what happened to him after that.
It is possible that, having experienced the loving touch of the Savior, he went on to become a Messianic believer. In that future day when Israel’s hearing is healed, that is precisely what they will become.
Paul and the Gospel
This theme is carried out in many New Testament writings, but becomes especially clear in the life of Paul. During his first Roman imprisonment, at the end of the Book of Acts, we see the principle of spiritual hearing with absolute clarity:“23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. 24 And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. 25 And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, 26 Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: 27 For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it” (Acts 28:23-28).
In many of his epistles, Paul asks his listeners whether they can fully hear what he has to say: Gal. 3:2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
“17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
In this season, as we remember the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, we ponder the amazing fact that His own people couldn’t hear what He had to say. We should always remember that this is the perennial issue when we present the Gospel.
And we should always keep in mind that even the smallest details in the life of Christ are freighted with deep meaning.
Jude, Gateway To Revelation … Conclusion
Reblogged from Grace Thru Faith
This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Jude
A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
Read Part I
This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Jude
A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
Read Part I
Intending to write a letter to the Church on the subject of
salvation, Jude was prompted instead to write about the false teachers
who were already infecting the Church with their lies. He was just
getting nicely wound up as we finished our first installment. Let’s
rejoin him now as he releases the full force of his torrent against
them. And as we saw last time, he wasn’t just writing about his times,
he was also writing about ours.
These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. (Jude:12-13)
The phrase “love feast” refers to the early church’s practice of eating together and sharing communion at their weekly gathering. It was an adaptation of the Passover meal Jesus celebrated with His disciples. Jude said the false teachers didn’t belong there because unlike shepherds who understood their responsibility to “feed” their flock (provide sound teaching), these people are only interested in feeding themselves (filling their own stomachs).
Clouds without rain fail to fulfill their promise of bringing relief from the drought. They get our hopes up but don’t bring us comfort. Trees that don’t bear fruit are uprooted. Jude called them twice dead because by bearing no fruit they produce no offspring and by being uprooted their own life is ended. The wild waves of the sea come from odd directions. Today, sailors call them rogue waves. They can knock a boat off course or even cause it to capsize. Wandering stars are unreliable and cannot be used for navigation. Anyone following them is in danger of becoming lost.
These four analogies are all accurate descriptions of false teachers and show that they are not just wrong, they’re dangerous. And they’re most dangerous to those who are least able to defend themselves. Like wolves, they feed off the weak and the stragglers. Jude said the darkest blackness has been reserved for them forever, indicating they’re not saved. John confirmed this when he wrote the following about them;
They went out from us but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. (1 John 2:19)
False teachers who deny the deity of Jesus or the sufficiency of His sacrifice, who teach what they know to be false because it profits them, and who rebel against the authority of Scripture are not just mistaken. They know in their hearts they’re wrong, and John said by their words and deeds they’re proving that they never belonged to us.
Paul said, “such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” (2 Cor. 11:13-15)
When you’re masquerading you’re pretending to be someone you know you’re not. Just like Satan knows he’s not an angel of light, his servants know they’re not servants of righteousness. These men are not merely deluded, they are consciously deceptive.
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. (Jude: 14-16)
Some commentators use this passage to support their view that the book of Enoch belongs in the Bible. But Jude was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and would have known that the book of Enoch a) was not written by Enoch, and b) has a number of historical and theological errors. Jude was very specific in identifying Enoch as belonging to the seventh generation after Adam. The Book of Enoch wasn’t written until several thousand years later.
Jude:14 is similar to 1 Enoch 1:9. But even if Jude was quoting it, that wouldn’t indicate a blanket endorsement of the book. Jude could have had confirmation from the Holy Spirit that the original Enoch actually said what Jude had written. That would explain why Jude attributed the statement to Enoch rather than the book by that name. The important thing to remember here is that the Lord will come to judge the false teachers for the way they’ve twisted and distorted the truth of His word.
But you don’t have to depend on Jude’s quote from Enoch to verify the judgments that await the godless false teachers. Peter said the same thing.
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping (2 Peter 2:1-3).
In Old Testament times there were false prophets pretending to speak for the Lord. Now we have false teachers who twist His word into something it was never meant to be. What they teach denies the fact that the Lord died for all our sins and just by receiving His free gift we can live in eternity with Him. Instead they use their influence to introduce destructive heresies that lead their followers astray. Peter added his voice to Jude and John saying,
These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. (2 Peter 2:17)
And Jesus will seal the fate of these pretenders saying, “I never knew you. Away from me you evil doers.” (Matt. 7:23)
Many scholars believe Peter used Jude’s letter as a resource for his own writing, so it doesn’t surprise us to see similar ideas. Peter also warned that there would be scoffers among us. “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation ( 2 Peter 3:4). These advocates of evolution contend that things always have been and always will be. They laugh when we talk about the 2nd Coming, as if we’re being naive to think such thoughts.
But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. (2 Peter 3:6)
It’s not that they never heard about how things began, or had no way of discovering the truth about the creation. Paul wrote that God made His authorship so clear that men are without excuse (Romans 1:18-20). On the contrary, they’ve made a conscious decision to ignore what God said about creating the Heavens and the Earth, and how he destroyed it when men became evil. Against all the evidence they’ve decided to believe that God doesn’t get involved in the workings of men and therefore won’t be coming back, ever.
But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life (Jude:20-21).
Building faith is like building our muscles. It takes practice. Jude’s brother James said it this way.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. (James 1:2-3)
An athlete looks for chances to test himself and faces them joyfully because it’s an opportunity to make himself bigger, faster, stronger. We should be the same, thinking of the trials we face as opportunities to build our faith. We know in advance that the outcome will be in our favor, so we can consider these tests pure joy. They bring us closer to the Lord and help us look to that day He’s promised will come.
Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. (Jude:22-23)
Like the seasoned veteran encourages the rookie, we can reach out to those who doubt while we wait for the Lord’s return. I believe Jude had Zechariah 3:1-10 in mind here. It was a vision, one of eight Zechariah had in the same night. The Angel of the Lord was there, along with Joshua the High Priest and Satan. When Satan began to accuse the High Priest, God said, “The Lord rebuke you Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
Joshua was dressed in filthy (literally excrement bespattered) clothing. The Angel of the Lord said, “Take off his filthy clothes”, and told Joshua He had taken away his sin. Then He had Joshua clothed in rich garments and said he was symbolic of things to come. He was referring to the day when the Lord would come to take away the filthy garments of our own righteousness and clothe us in rich garments of His righteousness.
“I will remove the sin of the people in a single day,” the Angel said, thereby identifying Himself as Jesus. It’s an incredible model I call the Gospel in Zechariah, and I think Jude was calling it to our attention for a reason. We need to remember what we were before and who we are now.
As we build our faith and wait for the Lord, we’ll become so heavenly minded that our earthly life will remind us of the High Priest’s filthy robes and we’ll long to be clothed with the heavenly garments of our eternal life.
Jude’s letter ends the way it began, with an assurance that Jesus will obey His father’s will and not lose even one of us (John 6:38-40), but is able to keep us from falling and to present us to Himself without fault, as though we’d never sinned at all.
At the beginning I said the Epistle of Jude could be called the Acts of the Apostates. This is because of the author’s focus on the false teachers. And remember they all claim to be part of the Church, even though their teachings are far from the Gospel.
Some of them say Jesus is not the way at all. They deny His deity, doubt the fact that He died for our sins and rose again, and dismiss His claim that you have to be born again. Instead, they say you have to find the way yourself, by living a good life, or learning secret knowledge, or joining their group.
Others say He’s not the only way. They teach there are many ways to God and as long as you’re sincere in what you believe you’ll find yours.
Still others say He’s not all the way. They say He made it possible for you to begin your journey to God, but you have to complete it by your own efforts, living a righteous life according to their standards.
These are all paths on the broad road with its wide gate. They lead to destruction because in the final analysis they make you the author of your own salvation. These are the acts of the apostates.
The Bible says Jesus is the the way, the only way, and He’s all the way. Only by trusting exclusively in His completed work on the cross can we hope to see the Kingdom. Faith in His substitutionary death is the only thing we can do that isn’t counted as work, and it alone is credited to us as righteousness (Romans 4:5) This is the narrow road with the small gate, because it makes Jesus the sole author of our salvation.
It’s exciting to be part of a big crowd all praising God and caught up in the stimulation of a great musical production. There’s a feeling of self satisfaction that comes from being seen by your peers as a shining example of what it means to live a victorious life. And there’s an unparalleled sense of fulfillment to be found in expressing the love of the Lord to the less fortunate through missionary or social justice programs.
But if you’re not also a born again believer, none of that will get you even one step closer to the Kingdom. You’ll just be one more victim of the acts of the apostates. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). To be born again is to admit you’re a sinner, and that Jesus died for your sins and rose again. Are you born again? 05-31-14.
These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. (Jude:12-13)
The phrase “love feast” refers to the early church’s practice of eating together and sharing communion at their weekly gathering. It was an adaptation of the Passover meal Jesus celebrated with His disciples. Jude said the false teachers didn’t belong there because unlike shepherds who understood their responsibility to “feed” their flock (provide sound teaching), these people are only interested in feeding themselves (filling their own stomachs).
Clouds without rain fail to fulfill their promise of bringing relief from the drought. They get our hopes up but don’t bring us comfort. Trees that don’t bear fruit are uprooted. Jude called them twice dead because by bearing no fruit they produce no offspring and by being uprooted their own life is ended. The wild waves of the sea come from odd directions. Today, sailors call them rogue waves. They can knock a boat off course or even cause it to capsize. Wandering stars are unreliable and cannot be used for navigation. Anyone following them is in danger of becoming lost.
These four analogies are all accurate descriptions of false teachers and show that they are not just wrong, they’re dangerous. And they’re most dangerous to those who are least able to defend themselves. Like wolves, they feed off the weak and the stragglers. Jude said the darkest blackness has been reserved for them forever, indicating they’re not saved. John confirmed this when he wrote the following about them;
They went out from us but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. (1 John 2:19)
False teachers who deny the deity of Jesus or the sufficiency of His sacrifice, who teach what they know to be false because it profits them, and who rebel against the authority of Scripture are not just mistaken. They know in their hearts they’re wrong, and John said by their words and deeds they’re proving that they never belonged to us.
Paul said, “such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” (2 Cor. 11:13-15)
When you’re masquerading you’re pretending to be someone you know you’re not. Just like Satan knows he’s not an angel of light, his servants know they’re not servants of righteousness. These men are not merely deluded, they are consciously deceptive.
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. (Jude: 14-16)
Some commentators use this passage to support their view that the book of Enoch belongs in the Bible. But Jude was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and would have known that the book of Enoch a) was not written by Enoch, and b) has a number of historical and theological errors. Jude was very specific in identifying Enoch as belonging to the seventh generation after Adam. The Book of Enoch wasn’t written until several thousand years later.
Jude:14 is similar to 1 Enoch 1:9. But even if Jude was quoting it, that wouldn’t indicate a blanket endorsement of the book. Jude could have had confirmation from the Holy Spirit that the original Enoch actually said what Jude had written. That would explain why Jude attributed the statement to Enoch rather than the book by that name. The important thing to remember here is that the Lord will come to judge the false teachers for the way they’ve twisted and distorted the truth of His word.
But you don’t have to depend on Jude’s quote from Enoch to verify the judgments that await the godless false teachers. Peter said the same thing.
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping (2 Peter 2:1-3).
In Old Testament times there were false prophets pretending to speak for the Lord. Now we have false teachers who twist His word into something it was never meant to be. What they teach denies the fact that the Lord died for all our sins and just by receiving His free gift we can live in eternity with Him. Instead they use their influence to introduce destructive heresies that lead their followers astray. Peter added his voice to Jude and John saying,
These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. (2 Peter 2:17)
And Jesus will seal the fate of these pretenders saying, “I never knew you. Away from me you evil doers.” (Matt. 7:23)
A Call to Persevere
But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. (Jude:17-19)Many scholars believe Peter used Jude’s letter as a resource for his own writing, so it doesn’t surprise us to see similar ideas. Peter also warned that there would be scoffers among us. “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation ( 2 Peter 3:4). These advocates of evolution contend that things always have been and always will be. They laugh when we talk about the 2nd Coming, as if we’re being naive to think such thoughts.
But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. (2 Peter 3:6)
It’s not that they never heard about how things began, or had no way of discovering the truth about the creation. Paul wrote that God made His authorship so clear that men are without excuse (Romans 1:18-20). On the contrary, they’ve made a conscious decision to ignore what God said about creating the Heavens and the Earth, and how he destroyed it when men became evil. Against all the evidence they’ve decided to believe that God doesn’t get involved in the workings of men and therefore won’t be coming back, ever.
But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life (Jude:20-21).
Building faith is like building our muscles. It takes practice. Jude’s brother James said it this way.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. (James 1:2-3)
An athlete looks for chances to test himself and faces them joyfully because it’s an opportunity to make himself bigger, faster, stronger. We should be the same, thinking of the trials we face as opportunities to build our faith. We know in advance that the outcome will be in our favor, so we can consider these tests pure joy. They bring us closer to the Lord and help us look to that day He’s promised will come.
Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. (Jude:22-23)
Like the seasoned veteran encourages the rookie, we can reach out to those who doubt while we wait for the Lord’s return. I believe Jude had Zechariah 3:1-10 in mind here. It was a vision, one of eight Zechariah had in the same night. The Angel of the Lord was there, along with Joshua the High Priest and Satan. When Satan began to accuse the High Priest, God said, “The Lord rebuke you Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
Joshua was dressed in filthy (literally excrement bespattered) clothing. The Angel of the Lord said, “Take off his filthy clothes”, and told Joshua He had taken away his sin. Then He had Joshua clothed in rich garments and said he was symbolic of things to come. He was referring to the day when the Lord would come to take away the filthy garments of our own righteousness and clothe us in rich garments of His righteousness.
“I will remove the sin of the people in a single day,” the Angel said, thereby identifying Himself as Jesus. It’s an incredible model I call the Gospel in Zechariah, and I think Jude was calling it to our attention for a reason. We need to remember what we were before and who we are now.
As we build our faith and wait for the Lord, we’ll become so heavenly minded that our earthly life will remind us of the High Priest’s filthy robes and we’ll long to be clothed with the heavenly garments of our eternal life.
Doxology
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy — to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude:24-25)Jude’s letter ends the way it began, with an assurance that Jesus will obey His father’s will and not lose even one of us (John 6:38-40), but is able to keep us from falling and to present us to Himself without fault, as though we’d never sinned at all.
At the beginning I said the Epistle of Jude could be called the Acts of the Apostates. This is because of the author’s focus on the false teachers. And remember they all claim to be part of the Church, even though their teachings are far from the Gospel.
Some of them say Jesus is not the way at all. They deny His deity, doubt the fact that He died for our sins and rose again, and dismiss His claim that you have to be born again. Instead, they say you have to find the way yourself, by living a good life, or learning secret knowledge, or joining their group.
Others say He’s not the only way. They teach there are many ways to God and as long as you’re sincere in what you believe you’ll find yours.
Still others say He’s not all the way. They say He made it possible for you to begin your journey to God, but you have to complete it by your own efforts, living a righteous life according to their standards.
These are all paths on the broad road with its wide gate. They lead to destruction because in the final analysis they make you the author of your own salvation. These are the acts of the apostates.
The Bible says Jesus is the the way, the only way, and He’s all the way. Only by trusting exclusively in His completed work on the cross can we hope to see the Kingdom. Faith in His substitutionary death is the only thing we can do that isn’t counted as work, and it alone is credited to us as righteousness (Romans 4:5) This is the narrow road with the small gate, because it makes Jesus the sole author of our salvation.
It’s exciting to be part of a big crowd all praising God and caught up in the stimulation of a great musical production. There’s a feeling of self satisfaction that comes from being seen by your peers as a shining example of what it means to live a victorious life. And there’s an unparalleled sense of fulfillment to be found in expressing the love of the Lord to the less fortunate through missionary or social justice programs.
But if you’re not also a born again believer, none of that will get you even one step closer to the Kingdom. You’ll just be one more victim of the acts of the apostates. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). To be born again is to admit you’re a sinner, and that Jesus died for your sins and rose again. Are you born again? 05-31-14.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
A Short Single Sentence that Saved my Life
Most Visited
-
Republished from gracethrufaith.com Th ursday, January 28th, 2016 Christian Life Salvation Q. Have you ever done a study on...
-
Reblogged from prophecywatchers.com by: Gary Stearman on July 21, 2015 During the last five or six decades, the re...
-
Written and published by Jean-Louis Jesus Expels an Unclean Spirit 21 Then Jesus and His companions went to Capernaum, and right awa...
-
Reblogged from: gracethrufaith.com The Holy Spirit Q. With Phillip preaching the word and crowds hearing...
-
Another aspect of hurt and forgiveness. Written and posted by Jean-Louis Note : I am not a doctor or a professional counselor. M y refl...
-
Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon. http://thelightseed.blogspot.com (To read the preceding and following chapters, click o... -
Lessons from the farm. Written and published by Jean-Louis. 12/2012 You can also read a story from the farm in 2 parts HERE Be c...
-
Written and published by jean-Louis Mondon Original written January 2017. For the last few days I have had this thought going throu...
