Reigning or Roasting?

Friday, January 26, 2018

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23 KJV).

Someone stated most appropriately, “We can spend eternity reigning or roasting.” Friend, which do you choose?

According to Father God’s twofold purpose in creation—heaven and earth—He has one agency He will use in each realm. He intends to unite all governments under His Son, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:9,10; Colossians 1:16-20). The nation Israel will reign on earth and thereby glorify Jesus Christ forever. Notice Psalm 37:11: “But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace” (Christ quoted this in Matthew 5:5, referring to His kingdom). Also, Job 19:25, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:….” Finally, Revelation 5:10: “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”

The Church the Body of Christ, God’s agency today, will reign in the heavenly places and thereby glorify Jesus Christ forever. Ephesians 2:6,7: “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” And, 2 Corinthians 5:1: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Also, Philippians 3:20: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:….” Finally, 2 Timothy 4:18: “And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

The eternal fate of those who die without Jesus Christ is described quite vividly in Revelation 20:14,15: “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” We had better trust Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour now, to reign later rather than roast!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Did Pharaoh drown in the Red Sea?

Perverse to Be Reversed

Thursday, January 25, 2018

“Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Psalm 45:6,7 KJV).

Man has free reign on Earth today—doing pretty much what he desires—but that is only temporary.

Some erroneously believe that mankind is capable of reforming itself. No matter how debauched society gets, we can supposedly rehabilitate it. We just have to keep praying, passing legislation, fining and imprisoning evildoers, having our “peace” discussions, devising solutions, and so on. Some have actually gone so far as to say that if we all get finally along here, having minimized or eliminated society’s dilemmas, Jesus Christ will not be able to resist coming back!! It is assumed that we can reform ourselves and thereby entice Him to return and reign over us. While it sounds quite nice, it is wishful thinking. (Has it ever worked?!)

When the Lord Jesus Christ returns—and yes, despite what most may say, He is coming back (!)—it will not be because everything has been set right. No, dear friends, He is returning to set things right. Hebrews 1:8-9 says that today’s Scripture is actually a prophecy of Jesus Christ’s Millennial Reign. That means that Psalm 45 is really a Kingdom Psalm, what will happen on Earth at the Second Coming onward. Jesus Christ has an inheritance: He will come and do on Earth what man should have done back in the Garden of Eden but failed (Genesis chapter 3). Adam and Eve were to be God’s king and queen on Earth, ruling and reigning for His glory (Genesis 1:26-28); alas, they sided with Satan, the opposition. Jesus Christ will return to reclaim that crown as His own!

In that day, all of man’s wayward institutions will be abolished: his perverted standards will be replaced with the original (righteous) standards God implemented at creation. Father God Himself will inaugurate His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as King over all creation. The universe has never seen anything like it… since man is far too weak to accomplish it by himself. Hasten the day, Lord, hasten the day when the perverse is reversed! 🙂

The LORD Shut Him In

Monday, January 22, 2018

And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in (Genesis 7:16 KJV).

Who shut whom in?

It is commonly assumed that Noah shut the door after he, his family, and all the animals entered the Ark. However, Scripture says, the LORD shut him in:” it was an act of Almighty God. Had Noah shut the door, there was no guarantee it would stay closed. He might not have pulled hard enough, or secured it tightly enough. Since God closed it, though, it certainly could not be opened.

Why was it important that God shut the Ark’s door? Remember what was aboard: the last remaining eight people, the last of the beasts of the field, the last remaining fowls of the air, and the last of the creeping things. All these creatures would have been exposed to the extreme weather outside and would have surely died. Satan had tried to corrupt the whole human race before the Flood; he failed. Now, he would try to destroy it entirely (when God intended survivors). The good news is that what God does, Satan cannot undo. Dear, friends, not even Satan could open that Ark door!

Jesus Christ told Israel’s believing remnant: “[27] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: [28] And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. [29] My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. [30] I and my Father are one” (John 10:27-30). Noah’s secure Ark pictured that Little Flock that will live during the end-times, to survive God’s judgment in an “ark” themselves (1 Peter 3:20,21).

The Apostle Paul spoke of himself as a secure member of the Body of Christ, not because of his faithfulness but because of God’s ability: “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep [guard] that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12). 🙂

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Do Matthew 9:18, Mark 5:23, and Luke 8:42 contradict?

The Prince of Peace, Born in the Middle East

Friday, December 22, 2017

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6 KJV).

Ironically, God’s wisdom ordained the birthplace of the Prince of Peace to be the contentious Middle East….

Almost from the very beginning of time, the Middle East has been a battleground, the chief war zone of good and evil. Originally the peaceful home of Adam and Eve, today it is the most contentious region on the globe. Because of Adam’s sin, what was a paradise is now known as the area where man joined Satan in his rebellion against God. Adam and Eve utterly failed to reign over the earth for God’s glory (Genesis 1:26-28). Instead they united with the opposition, and were banished from God’s presence and the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:23,24).

“Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (Romans 5:12). Verse 14 says that Adam “is the figure of him that was to come.” God would send another Man, Jesus Christ, and He would accomplish what Adam failed to do: glorify God on the earth by dispossessing it from Satan, and reigning in righteousness. This is the “government” spoken of in today’s Scripture.

“For if by one man’s [Adam’s] offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (verse 17). Adam plunged the human race into sin and made it God’s enemy; Jesus Christ offers mankind eternal life, forgiveness of sins and a reconciled relationship with God! This was God’s goal in sending Jesus Christ.

As our world desperately continues to seek peace, let us remember there will be no peace on earth until the Prince of Peace returns to His nation, Israel, and rids our planet of Satan and his policy of evil (the root of the Middle Eastern turmoil). At Christ’s Second Coming, there will be peace on earth (Luke 2:14), and especially in the Middle East.

God’s Perfect Timing

Sunday, December 17, 2017

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:4,5 KJV).

As today’s Scripture indicates, the birth of Jesus Christ was no accident—God planned its exact moment from eternity past.

When God placed the first man, Adam, on earth, He purposed that man would “subdue [control] it,” to “have dominion” over it and everything on it (Genesis 1:28). Nevertheless, Adam sinned by joining Satan in his rebellion against God. Because of sin, man was now unable to accomplish on earth what God originally created him to do. God left the human race a promise, however, that there would come a Man, who would do what Adam failed to do. Instead of cooperating with God’s adversary like Adam had, this “seed of the woman” would “bruise [Satan’s] head” (Genesis 3:15).

Traveling up through the Scriptures, we see how God lays the groundwork for that seedline. In Genesis 12:1-3, or 2,000 years after Adam’s sin, we read God’s covenant with Abraham, that through Abraham a nation, Israel, will be born, and salvation and blessing will flow to the Gentiles through Israel. The seed of the woman becomes the seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:16).

In 2 Samuel 7:12-16, and 1,000 years after Abraham, we read of God’s covenant with King David, that “his seed” will inherit his throne and reign forever. The seed of the woman and of Abraham becomes the seed of David.

About 1,000 years after David, Matthew 1:1 speaks of Christ’s birth, and declares, “…Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” This is exactly what God had promised for thousands of years!

Jesus Christ’s birth was not some haphazard event of nature. God the Father had preplanned the exact moment of the incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ (today’s Scripture). Over a period of some 4,000 years, the three members of the Godhead worked to bring about the birth of man’s Redeemer, a plan they had even before man was created! Amazing!

Joy to the World! #3

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

“For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody” (Isaiah 51:3 KJV).

The third verse of the classic Christmas carol highlights today’s Scripture.

“No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.”

God’s Word to Adam just after he sinned included the following pronouncement, “…[C]ursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee” (Genesis 3:17,18). This is part of the “bondage of corruption” of which Romans 8:21 speaks. Sin tainted creation. Thorns and thistles began to grow, making Adam’s labor in the field even more grueling. Paradise was indeed lost… but not forever!

When God created the heaven and the earth, He selected a special location on Earth as His home. Exodus 15:17,18 say: “Thou shalt bring them [Israel] in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O LORD, which thy hands have established. The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.” Isaiah 40:22 says God “stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.” While Adam’s sinful actions delayed God’s earthly kingdom, God would take care of those mistakes and still accomplish His original intention.

Israel’s mistakes further delayed God’s earthly kingdom. However, God will restore Earth’s ecology to its original, pre-Fall (pre-sin) conditions. This is true especially of Zion, Jerusalem, which will be the global and universal capital city. There will be joy and gladness, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. All believers in heaven (Body of Christ) and earth (redeemed Israel) will join the angels in song. The curse has been lifted, and Jesus Christ has been exalted (Isaiah 11:1-9)!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “What verse says the Bible is without error?

Joy to the World! #2

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

“Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity” (Psalm 98:5-9 KJV).

The second verse of the classic Christmas carol highlights today’s Scripture.

“Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.”

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world, and death by sin (Romans 5:12), plunging creation into suffering. What God had intended to last forever was now languishing away and dying off! “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit…” (Romans 8:22,23).

We humans, pinnacles of God’s creatures, are so ungrateful to our Creator. Even in such a fallen state, our universe is amazingly complex and it is a miracle it even functions at all with its abounding impediments! Rather than praising our Creator for giving us life, we complain about our “problems” and then write books, display billboards, and give lectures about His “non-existence.” We mock His name, laugh at His Bible, stick out our tongues at Him, and wag our fingers in His face. Newsflash—God will not tolerate that forever!

In His own time, Almighty God will make all things right. That means getting rid of that which (and who) is wrong/evil. As 1 Timothy 6:14,15 say: “…the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;” No matter what mankind does—cooperate with Him by faith, or protest by throwing a tantrum in unbelief—God has already determined what He is going to do. Jesus Christ, whether people like it or not, will be King over all creation!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Is Revelation 4:1 a preview of the Rapture?

Joy to the World! #1

Monday, December 11, 2017

“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise” (Psalm 98:4 KJV).

The first verse of the classic Christmas carol highlights today’s Scripture.

“Joy to the world! The Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.”

English hymn writer Isaac Watts (1674–1748) wrote his beloved Christmas carol after reading today’s Scripture. Psalm 98, with Psalm 96, is actually one of the “new song” psalms. These songs will literally be sung at Jesus Christ’s coronation, when Father God crowns Him as King over all, and when He reigns over all creation. Psalm 93:1, “The LORD reigneth….” And, Psalm 96:10-13: “Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth…. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad… Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice Before the LORD: for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” And, Psalm 97:1, “The LORD reigneth….” Finally, Psalm 99:1, “The LORD reigneth….”

Why the rejoicing? The crown that Adam lost back in the Garden of Eden thousands of years earlier (Genesis 1:26-28); the crown that Satan had ever so long as “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2) and “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4); the crown that Satan offered the Lord Jesus if He bowed and worshipped him (Matthew 4:8-10; Luke 4:5-8); through His crosswork, Jesus Christ has won it back for Father God’s glory! See Hebrews 2:5-9 and Philippians 2:5-11.

God’s earthly program to exalt Jesus Christ as King over Earth is currently delayed. He is doing something different today. Just as Jesus Christ will reign over Earth throughout eternity, He will also rule over the heavenly places. The heavenly places are where we fit in as members of the Church the Body of Christ. Yes, there will be great rejoicing in Heaven and on Earth. The universe’s world systems—Heaven and Earth—will be completely revamped and Satan will be removed from power!

What Child Is This? #1

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

“And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:30-33 KJV).

The first verse of the classic Christmas carol highlights today’s Scripture.

“What child is this, who, laid to rest,
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.”

Such an event had never before happened in human history. God had promised “the seed of the woman” to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15), but it was 4,000 years later that Mary was identified as that “woman.” That the Creator God would take upon Himself the flesh of sinful man, though Himself never being defiled by sin (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22). Unheard of in pagan religions!

The angels understood the Old Testament prophecies about God’s Son being born of a human mother. She was a “virgin,” a young woman (perhaps in her teens) who had never had any sexual relations with a man (Luke 1:34). On the night of Baby Jesus’ birth into the human race—the culmination of humanity added to His deity—the angels appeared in the sky and sang, to encourage the shepherds in the nearby fields to hurry to Bethlehem to see a little Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes (Luke 2:8-14).

“[15] And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.”

Once the shepherds came to Bethlehem, and found Baby Jesus, they beheld such a strange sight!

Death by Adam, Eternal Life by Christ #3

Monday, November 27, 2017

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (Romans 5:12 KJV).

Friends, unless they are for saints of the Most High God, funerals are very depressing. It is a most serious matter when someone dies and goes to Hell! When a Christian dies, however, it is a home-going to meet his or her Saviour Jesus Christ. What a difference eternal life in Christ makes!

It is often enquired, “Why does God punish us because of what Adam did? That is so unfair!” Scoffers, questioning God’s benevolence, especially raise this objection. We would do well, dear friends, to rather inquire, “Why does God save us because of what Christ did? That is so unfair!”

Romans chapter 5 one final time: “[16] And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. [17] For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) [18] Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. [19] For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”

Yes, Adam’s disobedience brought upon us sin and death. But, there is a balance. Christ’s obedience—His submission to His Heavenly Father’s will, “even to the death of the cross” to pay for our sins (Philippians 2:5-8)—offers us righteousness and life. Those not in Christ—relying on Him by faith in His death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for their sins (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)—will be banished to everlasting torment. Sin must be dealt with, dear friends, and it will either be settled at Calvary or in Hell.

God already has the answer to eternal death—eternal life in His Son. May we not delay; may we rely on the Lord Jesus Christ today! 🙂