Category: heavenly kingdom

Blink

Thursday, November 8, 2012

“Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey” (Job 9:25,26 KJV).

Our earthly sojourn is extremely brief, so let us plan ahead for our eternal destination.

Considering the recent and extremely sudden passing of a third Christian family friend within less than one month’s time, we remember this earthly life is very brief. Dear readers, none of us is promised a single day—let alone decades—of earthly life. Life is so fragile. At any moment, even the slightest threat (sickness, stress, et cetera) can instantly extinguish it.

Compared to the eons of eternity, this earthly life is like a blink of the eye, one small grain among innumerable sand particles. In today’s Scripture, Job declares his earthly life is “swifter than a post [footman soldier/guard],” “passed away as the swift ships,” expiring as quickly as the eagle swoops to grasp its prey. “For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14bc).

But, there is more than this earthly life. As one Christian brother once expressed it, “Eternity keeps you where death finds you.” There is an eternity after physical death to consider—forever and ever and ever and ever, life either in heaven or hell. Are you, dear reader, ready for the life hereafter? We who have trusted in Christ’s finished crosswork as sufficient payment for our sins, have a hope that once this life ends, our life will continue in heaven’s bliss (this, thankfully, is the testimony of that now-departed friend).

However, the Bible says that those who physically die in their sins will live in torment forever, experiencing the second (or, spiritual) death, “the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone [sulfur]” (Revelation 21:8). Have you ever trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, that He died for your sins, was buried, and raised again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)? If not, hell is your destiny after death. Trust Jesus Christ alone today, before it is too late—hell is only one blink away!

-IN MEMORIAM-
Mr. R. J. L.
September 29, 1948 – November 7, 2012

What is Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth?

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).

Literally tens of thousands of groups claim and quote the Bible, but they all have starkly opposing views. How can they use the same text to promote these antithetical views? Whom are we to believe?! How do we solve these contradictions?

The Bible’s first verse notifies us of a division—heaven and earth (Genesis 1:1)—which is present even in the Bible’s closing book (Revelation 21:1). As expected, God has a program that concentrates on heaven (mystery; Romans 16:25), and another program that focuses on earth (prophecy; Acts 3:21). Also, He has one agency He will use in heaven (the Church the Body of Christ; Ephesians 2:6,7), and another He will use on earth (the nation Israel; Exodus 19:5,6). All of God’s dealings with mankind can be divided into three time periods—“time past” (past), “but now” (present), and “the ages to come” (future) (Ephesians 2:7,11-13).

As today’s Scripture indicates, we seek God’s approval, not a church or preacher’s approval. During Bible study, it is ALWAYS crucial to our spiritual wellbeing that we note the author and audience of that passage/book, lest we claim verses God never promised us. We should not steal Israel’s verses, and she should not take ours. This is “rightly dividing the word of truth!”

Every Bible verse fits into one of those two programs—prophecy or mystery—and we must never mix those programs and their unique doctrines. Part of the Bible is written to us Gentiles in the Dispensation of Grace (the mystery program)—Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon—and the rest of the Bible deals with Israel and her earthly prophetic (kingdom) program. If we mix these programs, contradictions (and denominations) will arise. Oh, the confusion!! Church tradition and careless theologians have done us such a great disservice, wrongly dividing God’s Word, trying to apply verses to us that God never gave us (instead He gave them to Israel).

Dispensational Bible study is the only way to understand God’s Word, for this is the way God Himself designed His Word to be studied.

A Departing Saint and an Incoming Saint

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

“And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12:26,27 KJV).

Saints, rejoice with us! One saint is going home to be with the Lord, and another just trusted Jesus Christ as her personal Saviour!

Mrs. “B.,” a family friend, trusted Jesus Christ as her personal Saviour about 40 years ago. She was a great Christian mother and wife. For the past five years, she has endured Alzheimer’s disease. Within the last few weeks, her health has rapidly deteriorated, and as of the last few days, she is less alert, and is sleeping more. She is nearing home, drifting away from this world, and inching closer to the heavenly abode which marks the end of the Christian’s earthly life. The Lord has not forgotten her, and He will usher her home in His own time: therein we shall rejoice!

Ms. “K.,” someone with whom I just spoke on the phone, has trusted Jesus Christ as her personal Saviour. She is only a few minutes old in the Lord, but how she is just as much a member of the Church the Body of Christ as Mrs. “B.” Welcome to the family of God, Ms. “K.” You have new life in Christ! Therein we shall rejoice!

As today’s Scripture indicates, we mourn that Mrs. “B.” is unable to bid us a (temporal) farewell, and that she will not understand when we bid her a (temporal) farewell. How we mourn that she is suffering, but are comforted in the fact that she is not fully mentally aware of that suffering. If only she could remember, for her “to be absent from the body, [is] to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Though she cannot comprehend that verse anymore, we rejoice on her behalf, for she is nearing heaven’s glory.

In summation, we rejoice that, one day, Ms. “K.” and Mrs. “B.” will meet each other in eternity, two saints whose earthly lives briefly overlapped…. 🙂

My Kingdom is Not of This World? #3

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36 KJV).

What did Jesus mean when He spoke today’s Scripture?

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Within these two realms, God also created governments: “For by him [the Lord Jesus Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16).

God also made creatures to occupy those offices of government: He formed the angels to rule in heaven for His glory, and mankind to rule on the earth for His glory. One of God’s chief angelic-like creatures, a cherub named Lucifer, rebelled against God by wanting to rule for his glory: Lucifer proclaimed, “I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:14b). This title “most High” means “possessor of heaven and earth” (Genesis 14:19,22). Essentially, Lucifer (Satan) purposed to usurp all of God’s authority, in heaven and in earth.

Satan was able to recruit a portion of God’s angels to follow him in his rebellion in heaven (Ezekiel 28:18; Matthew 25:41). When God placed man on the earth, man was to rule earth for God’s glory (Genesis 1:26,28). Unfortunately, man (Adam) willingly chose to relinquish his God-given authority to Satan, by sinfully following Satan in his rebellion against God (Romans 5:12).

Today, the governments of heaven (Ephesians 6:12) and earth (2 Corinthians 4:4) are in rebellion. Earth’s governments are corrupt because Satan is “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). In fact, Satan tempted Christ with a proposal: if Christ would worship him, Satan would give Him the world’s governments (Matthew 4:8,9; Luke 4:5-7).

In today’s Scripture, when Christ claimed His kingdom was “not of this world,” He meant that His kingdom would not originate from the evil world system underlying today’s governments. His reign would restore earth’s governments to God (Colossians 1:20).

My Kingdom is Not of This World? #1

Sunday, September 23, 2012

“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36 KJV).

What did Jesus mean when He spoke today’s Scripture?

Within Christendom, there is a strange doctrine that, because Jesus Christ’s kingdom has never been established literally, visibly, and physically on earth, it must have been a “spiritual kingdom,” an invisible kingdom “in the hearts of men.” Today’s Scripture is often twisted to promote this warped theology. Such nonsense is the result of a failure to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), a negligence to understand and believe the Bible dispensationally.

“JESUS… shall reign over the house of Jacob [Israel] for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:33). Did this ever happen? No. Jesus Christ came to earth and left 2,000 years ago as Israel’s rejected King: He never did rule Israel, for Israel declared in John 19:15: “We have no king but Caesar!” So, how can Luke 1:33 say Jesus Christ will rule Israel “for ever?”

Dispensational Bible study relieves us of confusion and consternation. Luke 1:33 is to be taken literally, but it is to be believed dispensationally. Israel’s prophetic (kingdom) program, the program to which Luke 1:33 belongs, is currently suspended. God is not restoring the earth’s governments today. Instead, He is forming the Church the Body of Christ, a heavenly people whom He will use to restore the heavenly governments in the ages to come (see Colossians 1:16-20).

While our Dispensation of Grace is operating, Israel’s kingdom program is delayed. Once our dispensation ends (at the rapture), then God will resume Israel’s program and Christ will return at His Second Coming to fulfill Luke 1:33 (establishing His literal, physical, visible earthly kingdom).

Returning to today’s Scripture, what then did Jesus mean there? His kingdom is a literal, physical, visible kingdom, so how is it “not of this world?” We will study the Scriptures for the answer.

The Great LORD God #4

Friday, September 7, 2012

“Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears” (2 Samuel 7:22 KJV).

As King David of old praised his LORD God, so do we!

David rightly understood that his God, the God of Israel, was incomparable, Someone who could do and did “great things and terrible [so wonderful that they caused terror!]” (verse 23). David knew that God was forming the nation Israel, a special people separate from the Gentile (non-Jewish) world. God had “redeemed to [Himself] [Israel] from Egypt, from the nations and their gods” (verse 23). The nations’ “gods” were nothing but idols of wood and stone, but Israel’s God, JEHOVAH, was supreme, and David in today’s Scripture praised the great LORD God because He was the great LORD God.

But God, long after David had passed away, would do something else, something just as “great and terrible [awesome]” as forming the nation Israel. Now that God has revealed the mystery program through the Apostle Paul’s ministry, we better understand God’s will than David did. Not only would God redeem a people, Israel, from the pagan Gentiles, He would redeem a second group of people from the pagan Gentiles—us, the Church the Body of Christ—who would do in the heavenly places what Israel would do on earth.

God has two “peculiar” people in His Word: the nation Israel (His earthly people) and the Church the Body of Christ (His heavenly people). “…[T]ell the children of Israel;… if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine”(Exodus 19:3,5). Regarding us, the Body of Christ: “…[T]he great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:13b,14).

Who could devise such an unfathomable plan for the earth and the heaven? We join David in saying, “Only the great LORD God….”

The Great LORD God #3

Thursday, September 6, 2012

“Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears” (2 Samuel 7:22 KJV).

As King David of old praised his LORD God, so do we!

Today, in the form of the Holy Bible, we have the complete revelation from God. David, however, had a limited understanding of God’s plan for creation. Throughout the “Old Testament,” the Four Gospels, and the early Acts (pre-Acts chapter 9), God was revealing the prophetic program, “that which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). Essentially, that program involved God establishing an earthly kingdom through the nation Israel (herein lies the Davidic Covenant spoken of in the context of today’s Scripture; verses 12-16).

However, God was also withholding some information, deliberately keeping it secret. Then, He revealed that information to the Apostle Paul (Ephesians 3:1-11). God the Holy Ghost subsequently moved Paul to write that information in his epistles, Romans through Philemon. This is the mystery program, “that which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest” (Romans 16:25,26a).

David in today’s Scripture thanks and praises the LORD for His mighty works, how He has “[made Himself] a name” by forming the nation Israel (verse 23). But David had no idea that God had another mighty work in mind—He was just keeping it secret until Paul’s ministry! The great LORD God would do something even greater than what David understood: He would form another agency, the Church the Body of Christ, which would accomplish in the heavenly places what Israel would achieve on earth.

Saints, David rejoiced after only hearing about what God was doing with Israel on earth; he had no knowledge of us, the Church the Body of Christ, or what God would do with us in the heavenly places. We should praise the great LORD God even more than David did, for we now have the Holy Bible, the complete revelation of God’s will… for the earth… and the heaven….

Prelude

Thursday, July 19, 2012

“My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass” (Psalm 102:11 KJV).

This earthly life is brief, but it is a prelude of the life to come, so be sure to use your time wisely for God’s glory.

Even from conception, death works in us to end our physical life. As the psalmist wrote in today’s Scripture, “My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.” Because of the motion of the light source and/or the illuminated object, a shadow eventually grows smaller and smaller: it “declineth.” Our earthly life ends like grass “withereth” (fades away). James wrote, “For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (4:14bc). A “vapour” is a gas that can either become a solid or liquid: it ultimately “vanisheth away” (disappears).

Indeed, this earthly life will fade, but our souls will continue to exist. Prepare! What we do in this earthly life with God’s Word will impact our eternity. Lost people can place their faith in Paul’s Gospel—Christ’s finished crosswork on Calvary—as sufficient payment for their sins (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), and go to heaven, or they can reject it and go to hell. We Christians can study and believe sound (dispensational) Bible doctrine, so we can be equipped to function in the heavenly places for God’s glory, or we can ignore it and be unfit for God’s use.

Paul wrote, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man [physical body] perish [die], yet the inward man [spiritual body] is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

This earthly life is but a prelude of “the ages to come:” by faith, look at the unseen future, and prepare for eternity!

Jesus Christ: A Minister of the Circumcision #1

Friday, June 29, 2012

“Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:” (Romans 15:8 KJV).

Today’s Scripture clearly explains to whom Jesus ministered during His earthly ministry, but most of Christendom absolutely refuses to believe it.

Someone rightly stated that “Christianity” is merely “bastardized Judaism.” Today, what is called “Christianity” is actually Old Testament Judaism with “New Testament” verses tacked on. The root cause of the abounding doctrinal error and chaos in Christendom is a failure to believe today’s Scripture, and to practice dispensational Bible study, “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). All of the Bible is for us, but not all of the Bible is to us or about us.

The doctrine that God gave us through the Apostle Paul for this the Dispensation of Grace is almost totally ignored today. It was to Paul alone that God revealed our mystery program, the Church the Body of Christ and God’s purpose and plan for heaven (Ephesians 3:1-9). What has Christendom done? It has mostly ignored Paul’s epistles, preferring to steal the Bible verses—especially the Four Gospels—that God gave strictly to Israel. Israel’s doctrine does not belong in our dispensation, yet denominations continue to attempt to obey God’s will for Israel.

For the past 2,000 years, religious tradition has instructed us to obey what Jesus taught in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Entire denominations and churches are built and sustained by “naming and claiming” (actually “taking and faking”) the ceremonies, prayers, doctrines, and promises found in the Four Gospels.

In religion, “Follow Jesus” is a phrase mindlessly and faithlessly uttered. Repeating the so-called “Lord’s Prayer” is greatly emphasized, as is “following Jesus in ‘believer’s baptism’” and “claiming the Beatitudes.” No wonder people are so confused about the Bible! They are claiming verses that belong to a program God is not operating today, and when the verses do not work, the Bible is ridiculed.

Jesus Christ, during His earthly ministry, ministered only to Israel (the “circumcision”): He was not speaking to us Gentiles (today’s Scripture)!

Let Another Man Praise Thee

Monday, May 7, 2012

“Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips” (Proverbs 27:2 KJV).

As humans, we all have a tendency to brag about ourselves. Religion only makes the matter worse, for it teaches us to perform rites and rituals for others to see. They then “glory in [our] flesh,” boasting in our ability to fulfill those commandments (see Galatians 6:12,13). We need not praise ourselves, dear friends, for in due time, another Man shall praise us.

While we all enjoy someone telling us “Good job” or “Congratulations,” oftentimes these words go unspoken. Some individuals, no matter what we do, will never accept us. Even if it was godly Christian service, they still criticize us. Nothing we do will ever be good enough for them. No matter how kind we are to them, they will never treat us with respect. Do we love man’s praise, or God’s praise (John 12:43)? If we want man’s praise, then we should not be Christ’s servants (Galatians 1:10)!

In 1 Corinthians 4:5, the Apostle Paul talks about Christians having “praise of God” at the Judgment Seat of Christ: “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.”

The day is coming, the Judgment Seat of Christ, when Jesus Christ Himself will evaluate us Christians (the Church the Body of Christ) (Romans 14:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:9,10). He will look into our inner man (soul), searching our hearts and examining the doctrine we studied and believed from His Word rightly divided, the doctrine we stored in our inner man by faith. He will evaluate the doctrine we believed according to Paul’s epistles (1 Corinthians 3:9-15). Finally, we will receive a reward: an office in the government of heaven (Ephesians 1:3,20-23; Ephesians 2:6,7; Colossians 1:16-20; 2 Timothy 2:12)!

While fellow man may never say “Thank you” or “Well done” in response to thy acts of kindness or accomplishments, let another man praise thee… let the God-Man praise thee.