Month: October 2022

God’s Battle #4

Friday, October 21, 2022

“And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15 KJV).

Indeed, “for the battle is not yours, but God’s!”

Praying and awaiting deliverance as God promised (verses 3-13), King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah received a message of victory from the LORD (verses 14-17, today’s Scripture). We keep reading: “[18] And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD. [19] And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high.

“[20] And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. [21] And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever. [22] And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. [23] For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. [24] And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.”

Facing a mammoth army they could never conquer alone, the little nation of Judah went out singing praises to God, and the LORD was faithful in causing Judah’s enemies to kill each other….

God’s Battle #3

Thursday, October 20, 2022

“And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15 KJV).

Indeed, “for the battle is not yours, but God’s!”

Jehoshaphat took the Hebrew Bible—God’s words to Israel—and claimed its promises for Israel (2 Chronicles 20:5-12; cf. 1 Kings 8:33-40; 2 Chronicles 6:24,25,28-31). As the King prayed for the LORD’S intervention concerning huge Gentile armies, the congregation of Judah was assembled at the Jerusalem Temple.

Today’s Scripture in context: “[13] And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. [14] Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation; [15] And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. [16] To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. [17] Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.”

With Jehoshaphat speaking to God in light of God’s words to him (Hebrew Bible), God spoke to Jehoshaphat in light of Jehoshaphat’s words to Him (prayer). The Spirit of the LORD came upon a prophet (preacher) and communicated a Divine message to King Jehoshaphat and Judah. Indeed, the LORD had heard them pray, and He assured them all would be well. His battle plan for them was simple. On the tomorrow, Judah—and this was definitely strange counsel from God—was to go out and “stand still!”

Let us see Israel’s response….

God’s Battle #2

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

“And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15 KJV).

Indeed, “for the battle is not yours, but God’s!”

The context of today’s Scripture: “[5] And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, [6] And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? [7] Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?” King Jehoshaphat quotes the Hebrew Bible in verse 7, especially the Book of Joshua, the record of Israel’s conquest of Canaan (Promised Land) centuries prior.

Jehoshaphat prays further: “[8] And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, [9] If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword [war], judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.” They are actually standing in the Jerusalem Temple, God’s house, which King Solomon had dedicated with a similar prayer nearly 200 years earlier (1 Kings 8:33-40; 2 Chronicles 6:24,25,28-31).

The King of Judah asks the LORD: “[10] And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; [11] Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. [12] O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.”

Jehoshaphat humbly awaits God’s reply….

God’s Battle #1

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

“And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15 KJV).

Indeed, “for the battle is not yours, but God’s!”

The Holy Spirit communicates to us the following data in 1 Kings chapter 22: “[41] And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. [42] Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. [43] And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places.” It is important to observe how Jehoshaphat was a believer.

For more information about the challenges he faced as monarch, we turn to the context of today’s Scripture: “[1] It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. [2] Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi. [3] And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. [4] And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.”

King Jehoshaphat is David’s great-great-great grandson, reigning in Jerusalem over the Kingdom of Judah more than 800 years before Christ. The King is terrified to hear the news of an enormous army of Gentiles preparing to attack him! Let us see what he does next—or, better yet, what the LORD does next….

A Personal Matter

Monday, October 17, 2022

“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5 KJV).

Passing from spiritual death to eternal life is truly a personal matter….

Recently, I listened to an old recording of a preacher describing how he was ministering to an elderly neighbor woman. For the last few years, she had been attending his home Bible studies—yet she had also maintained her membership at her local denominational (works-religion) church. He lamented how she had to be over 70 years of age, and, with each passing day, she was that much closer to dying in her trespasses and sins. Even after hearing Gospel truth and reading Bible verses with him for a couple of years, she was still of her “I have to work for God to accept me” persuasion. Whatever ultimately happened to her is unknown. Last I heard, the preacher himself is alive (almost 100).

Several years ago, another brother in Christ shared a similar story with me. His “works-religion” sister-in-law, age 60, attended his home Bible studies for two years. She heard and read Scripture verses all during that time. In fact, he thought that maybe she was close to trusting the Lord as her personal Saviour. Eventually, however, he was discouraged to learn that she continued her membership in her cult. Today, both of them are close to 90 years old. He is a saved man, but his Christian life has disintegrated due to apostasy. She, to our knowledge, is still a lost or unsaved soul.

We all have relatives, friends, and acquaintances who are content without the Lord Jesus Christ. They have heard us witness to them, repeatedly share Bible truths with them, but they are not interested in forsaking the “family religion.” If we could believe for them, doubtless we would. Yet, this is not how God has designed justification (Him declaring us righteous) to operate. There is no “faith by proxy.” According to today’s Scripture, we must individually believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour; we cannot believe this for others to be saved. They have to believe it for themselves, and we cannot force it.

The Ravings of a Madman! #10

Sunday, October 16, 2022

“And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself” (Mark 3:20,21 KJV).

Who here is “beside himself?” Why has this designation been applied?

Saints, as we manage our lives and ministries, we must (!) remember our loyalty is solely to the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not follow preachers, denominations, or theological systems. We are not here to share “feel-good messages” so everyone will love and praise us. Our Lord Jesus conducted His life and earthly ministry to think like and serve Father God (John 8:28,29). He was not here to please people. Likewise, we are to be about Father God’s will, thinking like He does, walking by faith in His rightly divided Scriptures—regardless of what any fellow humans say or think about us. What is of ultimate importance is Heavenly Father’s assessment of us.

This is precisely how the Holy Spirit caused our Apostle Paul to view his life and ministry: “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Corinthians 4:3-5).

Let them belittle us: we need not their applause anyway. Let them abhor us: we need not their love anyway. Let them kill us: we need not their world anyway. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1,2). If we have the renewed mind, we are truly not the madmen! 🙂

The Ravings of a Madman! #9

Saturday, October 15, 2022

“And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself” (Mark 3:20,21 KJV).

Who here is “beside himself?” Why has this designation been applied?

Christendom’s prevailing spiritual insanity is the false notion that a system of rules and regulations will bring victorious Christian living. First Timothy chapter 1: “[5] Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: [6] From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; [7] Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm [encourage, support]. [8] But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; [9] Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, [10] For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; [11] According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.”

In their lunacy, legalists—“understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm” (verse 8)—force people under the law system when it cannot give anyone a right standing before God. It can only point people to Christ the Saviour (Galatians 3:24,25). When we place ourselves and others under a performance-based acceptance system (obey to receive a blessing, failure results in a curse), this is legalism, the law system being contrary to the grace system. Understanding the Scriptures “rightly divided” (2 Timothy 2:15), we recognize we live in this “the Dispensation of the Grace of God” (Ephesians 3:1). “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid [God protest, may God never let that happen!]” (Romans 6:14,15).

To avoid spiritual craziness, we must not only be Scriptural but dispensational too….

The Ravings of a Madman! #8

Friday, October 14, 2022

“And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself” (Mark 3:20,21 KJV).

Who here is “beside himself?” Why has this designation been applied?

Porcius Festus (Roman Governor of Judaea) and King Herod Agrippa II heard the Apostle Paul’s testimony in Acts chapter 26. As Saul of Tarsus, some two decades prior, Paul had led Israel’s rebellion against Jesus Christ: “[9] I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. [10] Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. [11] And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad [insane, crazy, lunatic] against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.” Saul had oppressed Israel’s believing remnant in chapters 7–9. Like his unbelieving nation, he had no renewed mind—but that all changed in chapter 9 when he met and trusted the ascended Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour (Acts 26:12-23)!

While listening to Paul’s testimony, Festus responded like any lost or natural man: “And as he [Paul] thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself [crazy]; much learning doth make thee mad [lunatic]” (Acts 26:24). Paul was certainly an educated man (see Acts 22:3), but the Holy Spirit was also speaking through him so as to convict Festus. Festus’ human intellect, fallen and insane, was unable to make sense of God’s wisdom: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned [judged, evaluated]” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Hence, non-Christians find it impossible to understand God’s words that we speak.

Yet, if we are not careful, even we Christians can actually rave like madmen, falling into the trap of true spiritual lunacy ourselves….

The Ravings of a Madman! #7

Thursday, October 13, 2022

“And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself” (Mark 3:20,21 KJV).

Who here is “beside himself?” Why has this designation been applied?

Although Christ healed all sorts of ailments and disabilities during His earthly ministry, one particular class of afflicted people He delivered was “those which were lunatick” (Matthew 4:24). In Matthew chapter 17, verse 15, there is a devil-possessed man who is also “lunatic;” Jesus healed him too (verses 14-21). While these are literal, historical cases, the mature Bible student will appreciate the striking symbolism.

As the Holy Spirit afforded him the ability to see into the future, Moses stated the following concerning his nation in the ages to come: “Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee” (Deuteronomy 32:18). Israel is not thinking like the LORD God designed her to think. She has been careless in remembering the Rock that gave birth to her coming out of Egypt. What has happened is she has pushed aside the Hebrew Scriptures entrusted to her (see Romans 3:1,2), and thought about anything and everything else—that is, all the beliefs and practices of the nations’ religions. Preoccupied with worthless information, she is now in Satan’s trap, and God’s purpose and plan for the earth cannot come to pass because His earthly people are willfully ignorant of His will for them and words to them. This continued for several centuries, all the way to Christ’s earthly ministry.

By curing those with mental illness, Christ in His earthly ministry was proving to Israel how He could heal her spiritual insanity. After all, He was preaching the very words that could educate them in Father God’s will. The miraculous demonstrations (miracles) they would see and hear would confirm whatever words or truths Father God wished to teach them. If they believed His message and esteemed His works, then they would no longer be ignorant of their Creator’s purpose and plan for them. Such spiritual insanity continues throughout the world today, including in Christendom….

The Ravings of a Madman! #6

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

“And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself” (Mark 3:20,21 KJV).

Who here is “beside himself?” Why has this designation been applied?

Read Luke 6:6-11 in your own Bible. When religious, but lost, Israel watched Christ heal a man’s right hand that was “withered” (deformed, dry, lacking bodily fluids, shrunken), they responded negatively because it was the Sabbath Day. The rabbis taught that medical aid was not to be rendered on the Sabbath unless for life-threatening conditions. In their confused minds, Jesus should have healed that crippled hand the day prior or day after. Verse 11: “And they were filled with madness [lunacy/craziness]; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.” Instead of connecting this Sabbath miracle with the Sabbath rest of God’s future earthly kingdom—thereby failing to appreciate this miracle that validated the Gospel of the Kingdom—they plan Christ’s murder (Matthew 12:14; Mark 3:6)!

As Jesus is nailed to Calvary’s cross after three years of earthly ministry, utterly rejected of His own people, He cries out in Luke 23:34: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Israel is spiritually insane, murdering their innocent Messiah because they think He is a criminal. The nation has been completely given over to the spiritual darkness they have preferred (see John 12:37-50). Peter the Apostle, preaching after Christ’s resurrection, says to his fellow Jewish people, “And now, brethren, I wot [understand] that through ignorance ye did it [refused and killed the Prince of life, verses 13-15], as did also your rulers” (Acts 3:17).

If a man is accused of being “beside himself,” the imagery conjured is that he is standing in one place but his mind is standing off to his side. He is isolated from his wits (mental faculties). Unbelieving Israel “diagnosed” Jesus as such in today’s Scripture (cf. John 10:20). Dismissing Him as “mentally ill” was the only way they could account for His extraordinary words and conduct. Actually, nothing was wrong with Him. They were lunatic, dead in their trespasses and sins, totally unable to welcome Almighty God’s wisdom and work….