Final Arrangements #1

Friday, December 13, 2013

“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:12 KJV).

When all of life is over, all of life has just begun, so when all of life is over, be sure you have the Son!

A lost person once inquired, “What is the point of living if we are all going to die anyway?” This is an excellent question, and the Bible has an excellent answer! Dear readers, the simple fact is that death was not God’s original plan for us. Adam and Eve had complete, unbroken fellowship with each other and with their Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ. On the same day Adam rebelled against God, he and Eve died spiritually—they were spiritually separated from God and thus they hid when He approached them (Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:7-11).

The three Persons of the Godhead said, “And now, lest he [mankind] put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” (Genesis 3:22). Adam and Eve were already dead spiritually, but in order to prevent them from eating the tree of life (which would have enabled them to physically live forever, except now they had sinful souls and spirits), God forced them out of the Garden of Eden. He placed Cherubims, angelic-like soldiers, to guard Eden, and a flaming sword to guard the tree of life. Adam and Eve eventually died physically, having never set foot in that paradise again.

Since sin is present, and man no longer has access to the tree of life, physical death is certain. Adam and Eve were literally destined to physically live forever and ever in harmony with the Lord Jesus Christ, but Adam willfully relinquished that life, that eternal life (and it affected all of his descendants). Our Lord Jesus defined “life eternal” as “knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [he hath] sent” (John 17:3)—eternal life is enjoying God’s life and God’s fellowship. However, man in his natural (lost) state is alienated [separated] from the life of God through the ignorance that is in [him]” (Ephesians 4:18).

This is why the Son is necessary….

Big Brother Versus Heavenly Father #6

Saturday, November 9, 2013

“…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:5c,6 KJV).

Big Brother is watching; Heavenly Father is, too!

Ever since Adam sinned, Father God has watched the world’s governments degrade. God loves freedom so much that He has permitted man to do just about anything he wants, even though He foreknew man would screw up creation! (In His wisdom, thankfully, God will still set it all straight one day, too.)

For 6,000 years now, but especially the last 2,000, Satan has operated earth’s governments. Paul, discussing the future seven-year Tribulation and the culmination of Satan’s domination over earth, wrote 20 centuries ago: “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Our Dispensation of Grace is preventing Israel’s program from resuming, but once our program concludes (at the rapture), Israel’s program will recommence where it paused in Acts (Romans 11:25-29).

The final week of years of Daniel 9:27, the “Tribulation,” will be the last time a world empire oppresses Israel. God will allow the antichrist, a smooth-talking politician inspired of Satan, to institute a global regime, thereby claiming to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament Messianic prophecies. The antichrist will deny Jesus as Messiah, and claim the title for himself (Daniel 11:36-38; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12; Revelation 13:1-18).

Once Satan’s policy of evil climaxes, God will purge Israel of its unbelieving Jews (those following the antichrist’s satanic religious system; Zechariah 13:8,9; Matthew 13:37-42; Revelation 14:9-11). Believing Jews—who accept Jesus as Christ—will be beheaded for rejecting the antichrist (Luke 21:12-18; Hebrews 12:1-4; 1 Peter 4:12-19; 1 Peter 5:6-10; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 20:4; et al.). Today’s Scripture is God’s comforting words to believing Israel: do not fear the antichrist’s fury (cf. Matthew 10:16-42).

When those seven years expire, Jesus Christ will return to earth, destroy the antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:8), and (finally!) establish His kingdom with believing, redeemed, and resurrected Israel (Daniel 2:44; Revelation 11:15; Revelation 20:4; et al.).

Until then, God is doing something else today….

Big Brother Versus Heavenly Father #2

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

“…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:5c,6 KJV).

Big Brother is watching; Heavenly Father is, too!

Mankind was to have dominion over the earth for the glory of his Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ (Genesis 1:26-28). However, man willfully sided with the opposition, Satan, in Genesis chapter 3.

Approximately 2,000 years after Adam was created, God chose to create the nation Israel (beginning with Abram/Abraham in Genesis chapter 12), a nation that would do in the earth what man had failed to do for the last two millennia. It would be through this nation that God would regain His dominion and authority in earth; through Israel, God’s will for the earth would be accomplished.

Moses told Israel: “And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: and thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them” (Deuteronomy 28:13,14).

Israel was to be God’s chief nation in the earth, thereby dispossessing it from Satan, and exalting JEHOVAH above all the earth. However, Israel deliberately disregarded God’s Law and followed pagan idols. She fell into sin, and she broke the Old Covenant (Mosaic Law); that is, like Adam, Israel also sided with God’s adversary, Satan.

About 400 years after King David’s reign over Israel, Israel’s monarchy was lost to Gentile domination. At that time, the last of the Jews in Jerusalem were deported to Babylon (God’s response to Israel’s centuries-long wickedness, as recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:5-21). Israel lost her political strength, and this is one reason why earth’s governments are still corrupt.

Of course, God has not forsaken Israel forever, and government restoration of earth is still on His agenda….

Shallow #6

Sunday, October 27, 2013

“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:34 KJV).

If the professing “Church” is to impact our culture as the Lord Jesus Christ intended, then it had better recognize today’s Scripture as applicable to it!

Adam deliberately rejected God’s Word—so did Cain, Noah’s generation, and the post-diluvial (“after the Flood”) human race at Babel. For 2,000 years, God has attempted to use mankind in the earth for His glory, but mankind has audaciously and willfully rejected His Word and will. Dear readers, secular humanism is nothing new!

So, in Genesis chapter 12, God finds Abram, a pagan Syrian, and through this one man—whom He will later rename “Abraham”—He will create a group who will accomplish His will in the earth (which Adam and all of his descendants up to that point had failed to do). According to the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12:1-3), God created that nation, Israel, using Abraham’s son Isaac, Isaac’s son Jacob and Jacob’s 12 sons (heads of the 12 tribes of Israel).

About 500 years after the Abrahamic Covenant was instituted, God through Moses leads Israel (now about two million in number) out of Egyptian bondage. In Deuteronomy 4:1-49, Moses cautions Israel not to reject God’s Word to them (the Mosaic Law). They are to obey His every command when they arrive in the Promised Land. “For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?” (verse 7). The wayward nations (Gentiles) were to see the wisdom of the Creator God demonstrated in Israel’s behavior and lifestyle (verse 6).

Alas, as the centuries passed, Israel went deeper and deeper into apostasy. Circa 700 B.C., JEHOVAH chided Israel: “There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land” (Hosea 4:1). Rather than knowledge of God’s Word in Israel’s land, there is idolatry, lying, murder, stealing, adultery, and violence (verses 2ff.). Like the billions before them, they too have intentionally rejected God’s Word and will for them (verse 6)….

Shallow #5

Saturday, October 26, 2013

“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:34 KJV).

If the professing “Church” is to impact our culture as the Lord Jesus Christ intended, then it had better recognize today’s Scripture as applicable to it!

For 120 years, Noah, “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), built the ark according to God’s instructions, and warned the world of the impending Global Flood. Eight people—Noah, his wife, and their three sons and their wives— boarded the ark just before the Flood (Genesis 7:7). God gave mankind an additional seven days to change their mind, believe His Word as spoken by Noah, and come into the ark of safety (verses 4,10). Of these perhaps four billion people in the world, not a single one came into the ark!

Jesus Christ Himself commented that when the waters of the Great Deluge came from above and from below, humanity was still pursuing carefree, satisfying lifestyles (Matthew 24:37-39). Although God’s Word, the warning of His impending judgment, was the least of their concern, violent waves of water immediately drowned their physical bodies and the flames of hell surrounded their souls. Most of the animal and plant species perished too (their fossilized remains form the geologic rock record that scientists still study today).

Approximately 150 to 200 years after the Great Flood, we come to the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). The new human population (Noah’s descendants) rejects the knowledge of God (just as Noah’s antediluvian generation did), defying God’s command to multiply and scatter over the face of the earth (Genesis 1:28; Genesis 9:1). Instead, they collaborate and begin to construct a city and a tower (place of false religious worship), Babel (just south of present-day Baghdad, Iraq). That false religious system is the “mother” of most present-day world religions. In order to slow down man’s rebellion against Him, God confounded their languages and scattered mankind across the globe (the origination of Gentile nations).

After God gave the Gentiles over to Satan, He selected one man, Abram, through whom He would create a nation of people, Israel. Now, let us see if Israel will be any different from the previous Bible-rejecters….

Shallow #4

Friday, October 25, 2013

“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:34 KJV).

If the professing “Church” is to impact our culture as the Lord Jesus Christ intended, then it had better recognize today’s Scripture as applicable to it!

Man’s fall into sin resulted because of his deliberate disregard for God’s Word. What was the result of this fall? It did not take very long for the degradation of human marriage (Adam turning on his wife, Eve), the decline of the family (Cain murdering his brother, Abel), and the collapse and nearly complete obliteration of human civilization (the wicked world destroyed in the Great Flood). We will briefly focus on the last two events.

Cain refused to bring the blood sacrifice that God commanded, so when his brother Abel confronted him, Cain murdered Abel (Genesis 4:1-7; Hebrews 11:4; 1 John 3:12). Not only did Cain reject God’s Word to him that Abel spoke, but Cain was unconcerned about his brother and he showed no remorse when God asked him where Abel was (see Genesis 4:8-15).

In Genesis chapter 6, some 1,600 years after the Fall of Man in Eden, we read: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (verse 5). Here, the human population may be as high as four billion, and nearly every soul is cooperating with Satan’s policy of evil. Amidst this worldwide corruption and violence (verses 11,12), we find one man, Noah, “a just [righteous] man and perfect [upright] in his generations, and [he] walked with God” (verse 9).

Of all the billions in the world, God commissions Noah to build an ark, in order to save the animal species and the human seed-line. There is a worldwide flood coming, and for 120 years, Noah preaches God’s Word to the world (Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:18-20; 2 Peter 2:5). Instead, they ridicule and ignore God’s Word through Noah. As Noah constructs the huge ark, the world just continues—gleefully and deliberately—in its wickedness….

Shallow #3

Thursday, October 24, 2013

“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:34 KJV).

If the professing “Church” is to impact our culture as the Lord Jesus Christ intended, then it had better recognize today’s Scripture as applicable to it!

In the moments following Adam’s consumption of the forbidden fruit, he and Eve realized that Satan’s policy of evil was infiltrating creation. “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:7). They knew what happened as a result of their abandonment of God’s Word. The effects of sin were felt immediately.

On the very day of man’s fall, we see the cessation of Adam and Eve’s perfect marital relationship. Man’s perfect relationship with his Creator also vanishes. When the LORD God asked Adam if he had eaten of the forbidden tree, Adam replied, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:12).

Adam has now turned against Eve. Notice how he blamed Eve for his deliberate mistake in following her in her ignorance! Eve was tricked, and so she ate; however, Adam knew better and he ate anyway. Also, see how Adam shifted the blame from himself, to Eve, and ultimately, to God—“the woman whom thou gavest to be with me.” Adam blamed God for his sinful action because God had given him Eve. Again, recall, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (1 Timothy 2:14).

We must not look down upon Adam. To this very day, we all, at some time or another, deliberately reject God’s Word, sin, and then blame someone else—often God! Yes, Genesis chapter 3 is the best authority on human psychology!

As time passes, Adam and Eve have sons, Cain and Abel, with Cain eventually and unapologetically murdering Abel in a fit of religious rage (Genesis 4:1-15). Here, we see the breakdown of the family. By the time we get to Noah’s day, 1,600 years later, there is worldwide wickedness (Genesis 6:1-8). Now, we see the breakdown of civilization….

Shallow #2

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:34 KJV).

If the professing “Church” is to impact our culture as the Lord Jesus Christ intended, then it had better recognize today’s Scripture as applicable to it!

The significant cultural changes occurring today are unmistakably identical to three turning points in human history. Each of these turning points can be studied in the Scriptural record, and we would do well if we looked at them, considered them, and learned from them.

Undoubtedly, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). The first man, Adam, and the first woman, Eve, whose body was taken from Adam’s body (Genesis 2:21-25), were not just physically alive, but spiritually alive, too! They lived in harmony with each other and with their Creator God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Like the three Persons of the Godhead, Adam and Eve loved each other, living for and seeking each other’s good. Selfishness, war, hate, and sickness and suffering were absent. Indeed, they had eternal life—they enjoyed God’s life!

Unfortunately, Satan successfully destroyed that perfect life Adam and Eve had. Eve, unable to adequately remember God’s Word to her (or perhaps Adam failed to properly communicate it to her), was confused and tricked, and in ignorance, she participated in Satan’s rebellion by eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:1-6). Verse 6 says, “and [Eve] gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Adam made no objection whatsoever! “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (1 Timothy 2:14).

Satan tricked Eve (2 Corinthians 11:3), but the Apostle Paul made it very clear in 1 Timothy 2:14 that “Adam was not deceived.” Adam was completely aware of what he was doing in the Garden of Eden, but he actually preferred to join his wife in rebellion against God than lose her. Adam’s deliberate refusal to believe and apply God’s Word ushered in this fallen creation, one that knows nothing of that original eternal life….

Shallow #1

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:34 KJV).

If the professing “Church” is to impact our culture as the Lord Jesus Christ intended, then it had better recognize today’s Scripture as applicable to it!

Society, even here in our beloved “Christian” America, is becoming increasingly secular humanistic. Secular humanism is an outlook/worldview that boasts, “We humans are good enough to solve our problems, without God and His Word.” Secular humanists emphasize man and ignore God. There is no regard whatsoever for the Creator’s will: the only issue is what does mankind think is right, acceptable, and good. How did mankind ever get to such a pitiful condition? What would ever cause such a frail, short-lived creature—made of mere dirt!—to exalt himself to such a deified position?

Let us be clear about three points:

  1. CREATION: Man’s original spiritual and moral decay could have been avoided had he not willfully rejected his knowledge of God (just like the Christians referenced in today’s Scripture). We can, and later will, appeal to the Scriptures to see man’s spiritual and moral decline… less than a week after his creation!
  2. CIVILIZATION: The significant cultural transformation—the willful rejection of the knowledge of God—that we are witnessing today is nothing new (recall the Christians referenced in today’s Scripture). What is happening today in the United States and all nations is something that God has seen many times over. He is not surprised, and neither should the Bible student. We can, and later will, appeal to the Scriptures to see Israel’s spiritual and moral decline.
  3. CHURCH: The professing “Church” has repeatedly—and in many cases, deliberatelyrejected their knowledge of God (just like the Christians referenced in today’s Scripture). This is nothing new, either, as God has seen it many times over. He is not surprised, and neither should the Bible student. We can, and later will, appeal to the Scriptures to see the professing “Church’s” spiritual and moral decline.

The serious Bible student can recognize a pattern in the three above points, which we will now carefully dissect….

Consider Your Ways, Mankind! #4

Sunday, September 29, 2013

“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:29,30 KJV).

Mankind, in his natural state, is apathetic to JEHOVAH’S desire to build a temple… using him….

Satan’s rebellion against God, which started in heaven, then infiltrated the earth with the fall of man. Adam—actually all of mankind—was to be God’s vessel in fulfilling His will in the earth (Genesis 1:26,28), but Adam sinned and failed (Romans 5:12). God then created the nation Israel to do in the earth what Adam failed to do (Exodus 19:5,6), but Israel also sinned and failed (Jeremiah 31:32).

Once Israel reached the point where she adamantly and continually rejected God’s will for her—the culmination of her unbelief was Acts chapter 7 with the stoning of the prophet Stephen—God set into motion a plan for the heavenly places, a plan that He had kept secret during the entire time He was revealing to man His purpose and plan for earth (Romans 16:25 cf. Acts 3:21).

In today’s Scripture, the Apostle Paul is preaching in Athens to remind these lost pagans that their idols of silver, gold, and stone that they have invented and carved and molded, are the results of their spiritual blindness. God, having given these Gentiles over to Satan in Genesis chapter 11 (so He could form the nation Israel in Genesis chapter 12 with Abraham), is now reaching out to them through the fall of Israel and through Paul’s ministry (Romans 11:11-13).

Paul urged these Gentiles, whose spirits were dead in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-3) and whose souls were darkened by Satan the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:3,4), to receive the light of God’s Word that he is preaching to them. They are to recognize their error, change their mind (repent), and start thinking of the triune God as the living and true God, not as some worthless, inanimate idol.

By faith, they are to submit to the construction of JEHOVAH’S new temple….