Month: April 2013

Others Which Have No Hope

Sunday, April 21, 2013

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13 KJV).

Only by God’s grace, we are not “others which have no hope….”

I know a family that does not have the salvation found only in Jesus Christ, and they are troubled by the recent death of a member. The prospect of exactly what happened to her is completely beyond their understanding. They do not know what to believe. Today’s Scripture describes these people as “others which have no hope.”

When a Christian brother I know spoke to this family, and told them that he was as concerned for their souls as they were for her soul, they responded, “We go to church.” Beloved, this is the mentality of every religious person on earth, billions upon billions of souls who are risking their eternity by relying on some man-made institution!

Just as there is a “synagogue of Satan” in the Bible (Revelation 2:9), there is a church of Satan. It surprises many, but going to church can be just as dishonoring to the God of the Bible as a Jew participating in the devil’s apostate religious system of Israel. The vast majority of “Christian” churches today are apostate, preaching their theological system from a perverted modern “bible.”

Thankfully, we have hope in Jesus Christ, who took upon Himself the penalty for our sin and sins: “Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and he rose again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). As individuals who understand that we cannot work for heaven, and who have trusted alone in Christ’s finished crosswork for soul salvation, we have the peace with God. God is not mad at us anymore.

This eternal security is the basis for the peace of God. Our loved ones who have died also resting in Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork alone, we will see them again (today’s Scripture). We do mourn their absence, but not hopelessly—we know where they are (“with the Lord;” 2 Corinthians 5:8), and we will be reunited with them one day (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). What comfort! 🙂

Churning, Wringing, and Forcing

Saturday, April 20, 2013

“Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife” (Proverbs 30:33 KJV).

There is more to today’s Scripture than meets the eye….

Today’s Scripture is an example of parallelism. Note the gerunds “churning, wringing, forcing” and their corresponding nouns “butter, blood, strife.” This grammatical structure is a teaching technique that God the Holy Spirit utilizes here in His Word to reinforce both comparison and distinction. He helps us understand deeper concepts by using simpler, more familiar ones.

Interestingly, one Hebrew word, miyts, is translated to render three diverse English words—“churning,” “wringing,” and “forcing.” Nevertheless, these three different English terms convey the same concept: effort vigorously applied to achieve a desired result.

So, what does today’s Scripture mean? It should be pretty obvious. If you churn (stir) milk long enough, butter will be produced. If you twist someone’s nose long enough, blood will gush out. If you anger someone long enough, strife (fighting) will result. (Notice the parallelism in this paragraph.)

“The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with” (Proverbs 17:14). This verse likens the beginning of strife to a giant wall of water rushing forth—you had better leave quickly, or you will literally be swept away by a flood of conflict!

One of the main reasons why sinful man wants to argue is pride. He does not want to admit that he is wrong, that he is not the final authority, and that he is a feeble frame of dust that is subject to fallibility. Having one individual like this is bad enough, but when two such persons are gathered together, our Lord Jesus Christ anticipated the outcome—anger and a disagreement that, if not settled in a Christian manner, may never be resolved.

Today’s Scripture could not be simpler. If you do not want butter, churn not the milk. If you do not want blood to come forth, wring not the nose. If you do not want the argument, force not the anger.

Luke, the Beloved Physician

Friday, April 19, 2013

“Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you” (Colossians 4:14 KJV).

As I sat in the emergency room early this morning, I could not help but think about today’s Scripture, Paul’s friend and co-laborer in the ministry….

The Bible only mentions Luke by name in three verses—today’s Scripture, 2 Timothy 4:11, and Philemon 24. Let us look at these verses to learn more about this Christian in the Bible.

In today’s Scripture, we learn that Luke is a medical doctor, described by the adjective “beloved” (dearly loved). Actually, today’s Scripture is one of the closing verses of Paul’s epistle to the Christians in Colosse. Paul writes that Luke says “hello” to them (remember, in biblical times, unlike today, long-distance communication was very limited and just as slow). In fact, Paul is writing from his prison in Rome (Colossians 4:3,18)—Colosse is over 600 miles (966 kilometers) away!

When Paul writes to Philemon sometime later, he refers to “Lucas” (Luke) as one of his “fellow-labourers” (24).

Not too long after writing his epistles to the Colossians and Philemon, Paul pens his last letter, his second letter to Timothy. Paul’s ministry is coming to a close, and he writes, “Only Luke is with me” (2 Timothy 4:11). The beloved physician is still with Paul, right to the end of the apostle’s life. Actually, Luke is a great comfort to Paul in that dank, dark, lonely prison cell.

Although not explicitly stated in Scripture, it is highly likely that Luke wrote the third of the Four Gospels, the book we call “the Gospel according to St. Luke,” and its companion volume, the book of Acts (Luke 1:1-4; cf. Acts 1:1). Furthermore, the pronoun “we” throughout the book of Acts indicates that its author followed the Apostle Paul during his apostolic journeys (Acts 16:10,12,16; Acts 20:5,13; Acts 21:17; Acts 27:1,27; Acts 28:16); it may have very well been Luke.

What happened to Luke after Paul’s writing of 2 Timothy, we do not know. All we know is that this intelligent man was a great friend of the Apostle Paul, his brother and helper in Christ, the “beloved physician….”

Good Riddance! #10

Thursday, April 18, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

Originally, mankind had the spiritual light of God’s Word. Once he fell into sin in Genesis chapter 3, his heart was darkened. When God gave up the unthankful and willfully ignorant Gentile nations in Genesis chapter 11, in chapter 12, He created a new group of people, Israel, through Abraham, who would accomplish His will in the earth (Adam’s original purpose before sin entered). For 2,000 years, as we Gentiles groped in spiritual darkness (Acts 14:16; Acts 26:17,18; Ephesians 2:11,12; Ephesians 4:17-19), Israel had God’s Word and God’s light (Romans 3:1,2; Romans 9:4,5). Alas, Israel too rejected that wisdom!

And so, we come to today, the Dispensation of the Grace of God, which has been operating for nearly 2,000 years. While Israel is temporarily blinded (Romans 11:25), God is forming the Church the Body of Christ, an agency of people who will do in the heavenly places in eternity future, what Israel will do in the earth in eternity future—rule for Jesus Christ’s glory.

As people who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour, we are members of the Church the Body of Christ. When we teach God’s Holy Word and the principles found therein, we are actually publishing the original laws and social structure that existed before sin entered. We are not “bigoted” for opposing the sins of the world; actually, they are presumptuous for defending and engaging in activity that never belonged in creation in the first place!

The lost world wishes we members of the Body of Christ were not here—they want to tell us “good riddance” for being hindrances to “progress.” One day, when the Lord Jesus catches us away to be with Him in the heavenly places, as we leave this earth, we can say, “Good riddance!” to this evil world system! 🙂

Good Riddance! #9

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

Let us leap into the future and observe the world’s moral conditions during the Tribulation period: “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: neither repented they of their murders, not of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts” (Revelation 9:20,21). Even as God’s wrath is being poured out on earth, mankind just defiantly and unapologetically continues its murdering, its stealing, its idolatry, its sexually-perverted activities, and its devil worship! (This will be the result of today’s “progress,” and believing Israel will confront such a depraved society during the Tribulation.)

As Jesus Christ Himself affirmed, the first person to die for having faith in the God of the Bible was Abel (Luke 11:50,51). Abel adamantly stood for the principles of the God of heaven and earth, and he died because of it. God commanded the blood sacrifice, and his brother Cain willfully ignored that instruction and brought his “alternate” belief and sacrifice. Even after Abel and he talked, Cain was still convinced that his religion was “just as good” as Abel’s, and that he would be right with God without doing it God’s way (sounds just like today’s “everyone will make it to heaven eventually” argument, huh?).

Cain hated God’s testimony that his brother the prophet Abel uttered. Just as lost people execute Christians and silence God’s messengers today (and they will do it in the Tribulation), it all goes back to the first brother of the human race who got rid of his godly sibling who stood up for God’s Word….

Good Riddance! #8

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

While today’s Scripture is not written directly to us members of the Church the Body of Christ in the Dispensation of Grace, what John wrote is just as applicable to us as it is to his audience, Israel’s believing remnant during the seven-year Tribulation (which is still future). Regardless of the dispensation, lost people always hate God’s people.

Just as Abel withstood Cain’s unbelief by rejecting his “form of worship,” Israel’s believing remnant will refuse the antichrist’s “form of worship” (the religion in which apostate Israel will participate in the Tribulation). Both Abel and Israel’s little flock are persecuted for obeying God’s Word, and both are executed for believing God’s Word.

Moreover, this has been true for many members of the Church the Body of Christ. Currently, Jesus Christ is sitting at the Father’s in heaven’s glory (Colossians 3:1); nevertheless, Jesus Christ is here on earth in the form of us Christians. Just as Jesus Christ resurrected and ascended back into heaven as a hated exile, the lost world also wants to get rid of us! They cannot harm Him, but they can (and do) attack His people, the Church the Body of Christ.

Ever since Adam and mankind’s fall in Genesis chapter 3, man has become dumber and dumber spiritually: “when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). The result? Read verses 22-32, which mention, among other things, homosexuality, fornication, envy, murder, deceit, haters of God, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, those without natural affection [abortion, for instance!], unmerciful, “[who] not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (verse 32). We just outlined the social “progress” in “progress” today, and like Abel and believing Israel, we receive flak for opposing it….

Good Riddance! #7

Monday, April 15, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

The unsaved, hell-bound world around us complains, “Jesus preached love! Why are you judging? You Christians need to stop trying to force your beliefs on others and just focus on the wonderful things Jesus did and said.” To these “defenses,” we reply to them, “Where is your love for Jesus, for His people, for His Word? Why do you hate Jesus’ people for repeating His wisdom?”

Of course, our questions to them are rhetorical—we know the answers (lost people hate Jesus Christ, they hate His people, for sinners and saints are from two very different families!). Their questions, on the other hand, are just desperate attempts to avoid accountability to a holy righteous God, to ease one’s conscience, to discredit the message, to ignore their sin problem, to blame shift, et cetera.

Beloved, this thoroughly confused, lost, and dying world still needs the forgiveness and soul salvation only found in the Lord Jesus Christ, and His death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for their sins. Like Cain, they use religion to cover up their sins (to no avail). They, like Cain, ignore God’s “words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Like Cain, they want to change the laws God has already established and replace them with “alternate” beliefs, and get rid of those who speak out against it. They, like Cain, live their lives the way they want, but without coming by faith in Jesus Christ, they will never come to know their Creator God. They can die in their sins and go to hellfire denying God’s Word forever and ever, but it will still be true. They can even hate and murder God’s people, the Christians, but the message the saints preach is authoritative, relevant, eternal, and true!

They know they cannot get rid of God’s Word, so they attempt to get rid of God’s people….

Good Riddance! #6

Sunday, April 14, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

Satan is God’s enemy (Satan is Hebrew for “adversary”); hence, Satan’s children hate and oppose God’s children. Recall Jesus’ rebuke of Israel’s unbelieving religious leaders, Satan’s counterfeit Jews: “If God were your Father, ye would love me…. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning [referring to Cain killing Abel], and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:42,44).

The conflict between lost people and Christians is actually the visible manifestation of the invisible spiritual battle that Satan’s lie program is waging against God’s truth. Unbelievers have slaughtered millions of God’s people throughout the ages. Even today, Christians worldwide are imprisoned, tortured, and slain for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of heaven and earth. (Fret not, for He knows the names of all, and His righteous judgment will be expressed in due time!)

In the context of today’s Scripture, John is comforting his believing Jewish audience who will experience the seven-year Tribulation. He instructs these Jewish Christians to neither be startled nor distressed when the apostate Jews embrace the antichrist and shun and persecute them for rejecting him as false (cf. Matthew 10:16-42). As satanic Cain hated and slew godly Abel (1 John 3:11,12), so unbelieving Israel will despise and betray the believing Jews, the Israel of God. John consoles them to be strong by faith in Jesus Christ, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

The satanic opposition that Abel faced and that Israel’s believing remnant will face, is what we Christians face today….

Good Riddance! #5

Saturday, April 13, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

The context of today’s Scripture uses the historical narrative of Cain and Abel to reinforce the doctrine the Holy Spirit is communicating through the Apostle John: “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:11-13).

John, writing to believing Jews who will live after our Dispensation of Grace—that is, who will live during the seven-year Tribulation—uses material the Bible already taught to further educate them. We can gain two main points from this passage.

Firstly, John reminds them of the kingdom doctrine Jesus Christ uttered to His little flock (believing Israel) during His earthly ministry: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). These Jewish believers are to love one another, just as Jesus Christ loved them (contrast this with today’s Scripture).

Secondly, John reminds believing Israel that just as unbelieving, disobedient Cain murdered his brother, Abel, the man of faith and God’s prophet, so her unbelieving brethren (that is, apostate Israel) will seek to persecute and kill her. Remember, Jesus Christ warned “a man’s foes shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:32-42). Speaking of the Tribulation, Jesus predicted His Jewish followers would not only be hated by the unbelieving Gentiles, but also by unbelieving Israel (who are all following Satan’s evil world system and the antichrist’s apostate religious system).

John, in today’s Scripture, reminds his audience suffering in the Tribulation, that Satan’s world system and its members have always hated the Lord Jesus Christ’s people. They should not be shocked, nor should they lose heart….

Good Riddance! #4

Friday, April 12, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

Jesus Christ claimed that Abel was a “prophet” (Luke 11:50,51): Abel spoke to mankind on God’s behalf. Abel was also a saint, a man of faith because he believed what God said. Cain, Abel’s older brother, was just the opposite—Cain refused to believe God, and so he did not obey God. Imagine the animosity Cain had toward Abel.

Genesis 4:3-5 says, “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”

Hebrews 11:4 confirms: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”

Now, read Genesis 4:8: “And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.” What do you suppose Cain and Abel discussed before Abel’s death? Abel spoke God’s Word, reminding Cain that he had not brought the blood sacrifice God had commanded. Cain, reacting toward God’s Word as any other religious person would, becomes even more upset—how dare God reject his “alternate” viewpoint. Cain hated Abel for his “narrow mindedness”—Abel stood in the way of man’s religious “progress” and Abel had to go! Thus, Cain murdered Abel in a fit of jealousy and rage.

Let us develop this study a bit more, and see how this narrative perfectly parallels the context of today’s Scripture….