Category: prophecy

Jesus Christ: A Minister of the Circumcision #4

Monday, July 2, 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).

Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry was to Jews only, with two recorded Gentile exceptions (the Canaanite woman and the Roman centurion). As today’s Scripture indicates, Jesus was in accordance with and came to “confirm” “the promises made unto the fathers….”

In the Abrahamic Covenant (circa 2000 B.C.), God swore to Abram that He would make a nation (Israel) of his lineage, and that His salvation and blessings would go to the world (Gentiles) through Israel: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2,3; cf. Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 28:14).

According to the Davidic Covenant (circa 1000 B.C.), God promised King David that one of His descendants would rule Israel forever (2 Samuel 7:12-16; cf. Daniel 2:44; Daniel 7:14,18,27; Luke 1:31-33). “Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me” (Psalm 89:35,36).

The covenants were given to Israel, not Gentiles, so Jesus Christ went to Israel. Christ Jesus came to fulfill Israel’s covenants (“confirm [fulfill] the promises [covenants] made unto the fathers [Israel’s patriarchs, especially Abraham and David]” of today’s Scripture). “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1).

Here is God’s method of saving Gentiles in Israel’s prophetic (kingdom) program. Jesus Christ limited His earthly ministry to Israel because Jews were to be saved first by accepting Him as their Messiah-King. Then, He would establish His earthly kingdom, and redeemed Israel would evangelize the Gentiles (Matthew 28:19,20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8)! One day, Israel will be a “kingdom of priests” for that purpose (Exodus 19:5,6; Isaiah 61:6; Zechariah 8:20-23).

Jesus Christ: A Minister of the Circumcision #3

Sunday, July 1, 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).

Why was Christ’s earthly ministry limited to Israel? Today’s Scripture gives us the answer.

In John 4:22, Jesus explained to a (Gentile) Samaritan, “…For salvation is of the Jews.” The Bible says Jesus Christ came to Israel, to save them from their sins (Matthew 20:28; Luke 1:67-75; John 1:11; Acts 3:26). Jesus, in Matthew 15:24, bluntly declared: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

But why? Why only Israel? Was Jesus unconcerned about Gentiles being saved? Why was God so focused on saving Israel during Christ’s earthly ministry? Rather than (blasphemously) accusing Jesus of “bigotry” and “racism”—as some foolishly and recklessly assert—we will approach the Bible from the dispensational standpoint, and what amazing clarity there is regarding this oftentimes-confused topic!

When God called Abram (Abraham) about 2000 B.C., He told him: “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2,3). God will bless the whole world through the nation He will make using Abraham, and this nation is Israel. This is the Abrahamic Covenant, which was in force until the middle part of the book of Acts.

Isaiah 2:1-4, Isaiah 60:1-3,14, Isaiah 61:6, Micah 4:1-3, Zechariah 8:20-23, and others show that God will bless Gentiles through Israel: Israel will one day be a kingdom of priests, and Jews will evangelize the Gentiles (this is where Matthew 28:19,20 and Mark 16:15 belong: contrary to religious tradition, these verses do not belong to us). This was God’s plan in redeeming Israel first: this is why Jesus Christ was sent to Israel only. God would save Israel first, and then He would use redeemed Israel to reach Gentiles with the salvation He had given them first (still future).

When Israel’s God Will Come

Monday, June 25, 2012

“Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert” (Isaiah 35:4-6 KJV).

Today’s Scripture has a two-fold application: the First and Second Comings of Christ.

According to the prophet Isaiah (preaching circa 700 B.C.), Israel’s God is coming:

  • Notice the first part of today’s Scripture: “[Israel]… Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.” This is actually a reference to Christ’s Second Coming, when He utterly destroys His (and Israel’s) enemies with fire (Zechariah 14:1-3; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 19:11-21). The believing remnant in Israel will then be ushered into her 1,000-year earthly kingdom (Revelation 20:4).
  • The next portion of today’s Scripture was fulfilled 2,000 years ago, when Israel’s God came to her the first time: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing” (cf. Matthew 11:5,6; Matthew 15:30,31; et al.). Jesus performed these miracles to demonstrate the physical healing and deliverance from sin’s curse that will occur during that kingdom (Isaiah 33:24; Acts 2:22; cf. Hebrews 2:3-5).
  • The ending of today’s Scripture—“for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert”—is another reference to Christ’s Second Coming (see Zechariah 14:8-10, which refers to the earthly kingdom that Jesus Christ will establish).

Isaiah chapter 35 (which you should read in its entirety) discusses the prophecies when Israel’s God will come to her. In hindsight, we see that God was actually referring to two separate events, nearly 2,000 years apart. Israel’s God came… and He will come again!

Behold, I Stand at the Door, and Knock

Monday, June 18, 2012

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is often greatly misunderstood: it has nothing to do with salvation. It has nothing to do with “Jesus knocking at the door of a lost person’s heart” or “asking Jesus into your heart.” Contrariwise, it actually entails judgment!

Dispensational Bible study helps us understand today’s Scripture. First, John is its author (Revelation 1:4). John is not writing to us in the Dispensation of Grace; he is an apostle of Israel, writing to Jews in their kingdom program (Galatians 2:9).

Today’s Scripture is written to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, Jewish believers who will endure the future seven-year Tribulation (verse 14). These Laodiceans are “lukewarm,” “neither cold nor hot” (verse 15,16): they are materialistic and their works displease God (verses 17,18). They are “straddling the fence,” so to speak; therefore, the Lord through John admonishes these Jewish believers, “be zealous therefore, and repent [change your thinking!]” (verse 19).

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock” is best understood when compared to James 5:8,9 (also written to Jews during the Tribulation): “Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.” In the context of today’s Scripture, Jesus Christ’s Second Coming is near, and God is warning these believing Jews to “get their act together” so they can be ready to accept their Messiah-King, and so their deeds and hearts (attitudes) are acceptable to Him.

Let us return to the context of today’s Scripture: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21). This refers to believing Jews entering their earthly kingdom (which Christ will establish at His Second Coming). How plain! Today’s Scripture belongs to Israel, not us.

Christ Shall So Come in Like Manner

Saturday, June 2, 2012

“And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:10,11 KJV).

In Christendom, there is a strange teaching that the Second Coming of Christ is not a literal, physical, visible return, but rather a symbolic, invisible, spiritual coming to “rule in the hearts of men.” A spiritual, invisible Second Coming of Christ is utter nonsense, for today’s Scripture reduces such “wisdom” to nothing more than “spiritualizing to tell spiritual lies” (“the verse does not mean what it says” heresy).

When Jesus Christ appeared to His disciples post-resurrection, they “supposed that they had seen a spirit” (Luke 24:37). Notice Christ’s correction: “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet” (verses 39,40).

Christ’s resurrected body was a physical body that could be seen and touched, just like our bodies. According to verses 42,43, Jesus Christ even ate fish and honeycomb! Also, Jesus instructed “doubting Thomas” to touch the scars in His hands, feet, and side (John 21:24-29). Surely, Jesus’ body was literal, physical, and visible, and He was in this same body when He ascended to His Father as recorded in today’s Scripture.

Jesus went back to heaven literally, physically, and visibly, and the angels in today’s Scripture said, “Jesus…shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Christ’s Second Coming will not involve some invisible spirit coming to earth. Jesus Christ will return to earth in His literal, visible, resurrected body of “flesh and bones.” In fact, Revelation 1:7 says the whole world (and the Jews of Zechariah 12:10) will literally see Jesus Christ at His Second Coming (to end the seven-year Tribulation).

Vengeance Belongeth Unto the Lord #4

Thursday, May 24, 2012

“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19 KJV).

Injustices abound. The wicked are applauded and often go unpunished while the righteous (God’s people) are despised and penalized. As the cliché goes, “God never sleeps.” All wrongs will be righted one day (today’s Scripture).

When the Lord Jesus Christ went to Calvary’s cross, He purchased our salvation. There, He suffered God’s eternal wrath against our sin: “He became sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21; cf. Isaiah 53:10; Matthew 26:46; Galatians 3:13). Once we trust Christ Jesus alone as our personal Saviour, Christ’s finished crosswork for our sins is applied (imputed) to us, and we will never suffer God’s wrath (Christ suffered that wrath for us).

However, those who physically die without having trusted Christ will remain forever dead in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23): physical and spiritual death. Thus, they must pay for those sins by suffering the eternal wrath of God against sin (the everlasting lake of fire; the “second [or spiritual] death” [Revelation 21:8]).

For the past 2,000 years, God has been offering the world His grace and peace. But, when this the Dispensation of Grace ends (at the rapture), God “shall speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure” (Psalm 2:5). During that seven-year Tribulation—“the day of the LORD’s vengeance” (Isaiah 34:8), “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2), and “the days of vengeance” (Luke 21:22)—our wicked world will finally experience God’s righteous wrath. According to 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, Christ’s Second Coming will conclude those seven years, and fire will further execute vengeance on God’s enemies (Christ-rejecters).

“God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked…” (Nahum 1:2,3).

Indeed, “vengeance belongeth unto the Lord….”

Vengeance Belongeth Unto the Lord #3

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19 KJV).

In the biblical words of a bygone preacher, “Payday, someday!”

Today’s Scripture and its context (verses 17-21) explain that whenever God’s righteousness is offended (sinned against), His justice enforces appropriate punishment (His wrath). Thus, we need not retaliate when people mistreat us. Those sins will either be dealt with at Christ’s cross (if these people trust Christ or have trusted Christ), or if they do not trust Christ, they will suffer for those deeds forever in the lake of fire.

According to 2 Thessalonians 1:4-9, the believers in Thessalonica endured persecutions and tribulations (sound familiar?). Notice the comfort the Apostle Paul gave them: “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;” (verses 6-9).

To “recompense” means, “to pay back in kind.” When Jesus Christ returns to earth at His Second Coming, He will pay back His (and thus, our) enemies. A literal fire will precede Him, and it will consume them. This is the wrath mentioned in today’s Scripture (cf. Matthew 3:7-12; Luke 3:16,17; Psalm 2:4,5).

But, notice that fire will then give way to “everlasting destruction” (this is when these people die, and go to hell and, ultimately, the lake of fire). The lake of fire is where God’s wrath against sin is eternally poured out on those who chose to reject Christ and remain dead in their sins (“them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”).

For sinners, “Payday someday.” Either at Christ’s cross… or the lake of fire….

The Nations That Forget God

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17 KJV).

Beloved, today’s Scripture will always hold true: those who ignore God’s Word will experience apostasy, temporal misery, and eventually, everlasting hellfire. We would do well if we considered and believed today’s Scripture.

The Apostle Paul spent a large portion of his apostolic journeys around the Mediterranean Sea (Greece, Italy, Turkey [“Asia”], et cetera). Travel to these areas today, and you will find mere remnants of the Gospel of Grace and God’s doctrines for this dispensation. What was a hotbed for sound doctrine is now a hotbed for ungodliness. Pagan religion and sins of the flesh have just engulfed those regions. You could never tell God’s Word was even preached there! (Sadly, this even applies to our beloved America.)

Overall, no nation remembers God today. You can even go to the land of Israel today, and see God’s (former) earthly people so confused and spiritually blind (Romans 11:25). They have so departed from the Bible, which God originally entrusted to them (Romans 3:1,2)!!

During the yet future seven-year Tribulation, after our dispensation closes, every nation will turn upon Israel. Our Lord Jesus warned, “And ye [Israel] shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9b). All Gentile nations will forget God (by turning on His people Israel), and they will gather in battle against Israel at the end of the seven years (Revelation 16:14-16). Because of their hatred of Israel (which at that time will be God’s people), God will be just in pouring His wrath out on every Gentile nation. Jesus Christ at His Second Coming will destroy these pagan Gentiles (Revelation 19:11-21), as well as purge out the unbelieving Jews in Israel (Matthew 24:38-41).

When Jesus Christ sets up His kingdom, He will declare to the Gentiles that hated Israel during the Tribulation: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire…” (Matthew 25:41). Indeed, “the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God….”

Those who have forgotten God need to wake up before God’s judgment comes!!!

The Body of Christ at the Second Coming?

Friday, April 27, 2012

“And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean” (Revelation 19:14 KJV).

Today’s Scripture and its context (verses 11-21) describe the literal, physical, and visible return of our Lord Jesus Christ to planet earth. According to today’s Scripture, at Jesus Christ’s Second Coming, He is accompanied by “the armies which were in heaven,” individuals “clothed in fine linen, white and clean.” Who are these creatures?

While today’s Scripture is often assumed to be referring to us (the Church the Body of Christ), Jesus Christ provides the correct interpretation regarding His Second Coming: “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory” (Matthew 25:31). The creatures described in today’s Scripture are angels, not us: angels wear white clothes (Mark 16:5; Acts 1:10).

At the rapture (which could happen at any moment), God will secretly and instantly will remove from earth all people who have trusted exclusively in Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour, those who have relied completely on Christ’s dying for their sins, His burial, and His resurrection for their justification (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Paul describes the rapture in two main passages: 1 Corinthians 15:51-58 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

If God will one day remove us (the Body of Christ) from the earth, would it make any sense for us to return to earth at His Second Coming? No, it does not, for we the Church the Body of Christ belong in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 2:6,7; Colossians 3:1; 2 Timothy 4:18). God will give us bodies “eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1-5): our glorified bodies will not be meant to function on earth.

At His Second Coming, Jesus Christ will be coming for Israel: we have no relation to that event. Beginning at the rapture and down through the ages of eternity future, we, the Body of Christ, will function in heaven. We will have no need to ever return to earth: earth will be Israel’s territory.

Read the King James Bible on Your Own #2

Saturday, March 24, 2012

“How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)”  (Ephesians 3:3,4 KJV).

The most dangerous spiritual mistake is to rely on the mere claims of pastors, priests, theologians, and teachers. Many appear “spiritual” and sound “godly,” but did God’s Word really say what they claim it says? Or, did they simply make something up to further their preconceived (denominational) conclusion? Check church leaders against the King James Bible rightly divided. You will find most of them flunk doctrinally!! They are not God’s servants.

Recently, a minister quoted six Bible verses; however, his message was bogus and unscriptural. Despite his allusions (illusions!) to the Scripture, he taught pagan idolatry and superstition. Sadly, most of his readers will never know that because they took his word for it (they will never consult the Bible). “Why should I question him? He attended seminary (Bible cemetery)—he must know his Bible!” Israel’s religious leaders studied the Old Testament, yet Jesus told them: “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures” (Matthew 22:29). These “seminarians” knew nothing about God’s Word.

Ignoring a church’s “interpretation” and reading and believing the Bible as is is not a sin; Paul in today’s Scripture encouraged the Ephesians to read the Bible and learn God’s Word (without a church teaching body or seminary degree!). Isaiah 34:16; John 5:39; Acts 17:10,11; 2 Timothy 2:7,15; 2 Timothy 3:15-17 say people read the Bible.

Eventually, everyone will appear before Jesus Christ. The lost (unsaved) world will stand before Him at the Great White Throne Judgment to receive their punishment for rejecting God’s Word, the everlasting lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). Members of the Church the Body of Christ, however, will stand before Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ to give account of their Christian lives (the quality of the Bible doctrine they believed, practiced, et cetera; Romans 14:10,11; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10).

In those days, “My pastor/priest told me…” will not be a valid excuse for Bible ignorance.