Our Secure Identity in Christ

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

“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 that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12 KJV).

Life is dynamic; life in Christ is not!

This life is filled with uncertainty. It is dynamic, constantly changing. In short, it can be likened to a roller coaster. Emotions intensify that ride, too! We hear of people worried about their financial stability; their health; their social life; their education; and the wellbeing of their children, grandchildren, and friends.

As noted in today’s Scripture, the Apostle Paul was certainly not exempt from this life’s troubles. Unbelieving Jews followed him wherever he went (as documented throughout the book of Acts). They persecuted him and his Gentile converts (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16). Eventually, these wicked Jews convinced the Roman government to imprison—and finally execute—Paul.

Today’s Scripture is a portion of Paul’s final epistle, written shortly before his execution. Undoubtedly, when he spoke of his “suffering” for the sake of the Gospel of the Grace of God, he was reflecting on his ministry, the last 35 years of his life. We cannot imagine the horrific suffering of Paul, who endured at least 195 lashes; three beatings with rods; one stoning; three shipwrecks; a night and a day stranded in the sea; food, clothing, and shelter shortages; and numerous other troubling ordeals the Bible only briefly recounts (2 Corinthians 11:23-27).

Above all, while writing this final epistle, Paul is in prison again, and he confesses, “Only Luke is with me” (2 Timothy 4:11a). Over three awesome decades of ministry are drawing to a close, but Paul’s circumstances seem grim. He has been forsaken by nearly everyone, and his beheading is near. Regardless, Paul declares, “I am not ashamed.” He knew, no matter what had happened or would happen to his physical body, his spiritual body was secure in Christ (today’s Scripture).

Dear saints, let us remember this sound doctrine when life is difficult. Our circumstances will change; our identity in Christ never will! 🙂

A Bright Creator and His Luminous Creations

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

“He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:4,5 KJV).

Take a glimpse into God’s mind by permitting today’s Scripture to sink into yours!

Stars are large, gaseous spheres, mainly composed of hydrogen and helium, and they are arranged in clusters throughout the heavens. Some stars are 1,500 times larger than the sun, which itself is more than 100 times larger than planet earth; by comparison, the “smallest” known stars are “only” 25 times larger than earth!

There are perhaps 100 sextillion—that is 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000!!!—stars in our universe. Our telescopes cannot see very far into outer space, so there are countless more stars that have yet to be observed. Moreover, from earth, we can only observe thousands of those stars at night.

Regardless of the actual number of stars, today’s Scripture is mind-boggling. Not only does God “tell [count] the number of the stars,” He also “calls them all by their names!” God has a name for every last star—all 100 sextillion-plus! No wonder the Bible says, “Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.” God’s mind is limitless: He understands everything. He devised everything from nothing and then created it all from nothing. “Great is our Lord!” But there is more….

In 1 Corinthians 15:41, we read: “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.” (Interestingly, while scientists often refer to the sun as a “star,” the Bible does not. God, especially in this verse, treats the sun and the stars as separate bodies). According to Scripture, not only is each and every star is accounted for and has its own name, but it also has its own glorious properties that God Himself arranged (scientists actually agree with Scripture here). Over 100 sextillion stars, and each and every one is upheld by God’s spoken word.

Reflect on such diversity, such masterful artistry, such luminous bodies… directly from the (bright) mind of the Creator God Himself!

The Counsel of the LORD Shall Stand

Monday, November 12, 2012

“There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand” (Proverbs 19:21 KJV).

No matter what mankind has done, is doing, or will do, God’s “eternal purpose” will still be accomplished.

Christians disturbed by the results of the recent United States’ presidential election, are voicing their concerns. Some fear God’s impending judgment, while others believe those election results were “God’s decision.” “What saith the scriptures?”

Did God really foreordain the president-elect from eternity past, as claimed? We think not. American voters went to the poll. God gave voters the ability to choose who they wanted, and they did. There is nothing in the Bible to suggest that God chose our leaders today. God has merely “ordained” the offices and authority (“powers”) of government, not the people occupying and exercising them (Romans 13:1,2).

Will God judge America for its wickedness? Of course, according to Romans 2:6-11, but not in this the Dispensation of Grace. Today, God is extending to us through Christ’s finished crosswork His grace, His mercy, His love, and His kindness. God is not imputing the world’s trespasses unto it (2 Corinthians 5:19-21)… yet.

For the last 6,000 years, God has let mankind “do his own thing.” Mankind has devised his own way of life, his own beliefs, and his own rules (just as today’s Scripture declares). But, there is pleasure in sin only for a season (Hebrews 11:25b). This current arrangement of autonomous man ruling earth will persist only until Jesus Christ returns at His Second Coming to restore earth’s governments unto Himself (Revelation 11:15; Revelation 19:11-16).

“The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought [nothing]: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect” (Psalm 33:10).

What has God planned from eternity past, despite what mankind “devises” he will do? God is determined to glorify His Son, Jesus Christ, in two realms, heaven and earth (Ephesians 1:9,10), using two agencies, the Church the Body of Christ, and the nation Israel, respectively (Colossians 1:16-20). When our dispensation closes, God will begin to execute that plan. That is the “counsel of the LORD,” and that shall stand! 🙂

Future Christian Veterans

Sunday, November 11, 2012

“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3 KJV).

Let us not grow weary, dear saints, for we are Christian veterans-in-the-making!

As one older Christian and veteran affirmed, the spiritual warfare in which we Christians are engaged is far more intense than any flesh and blood battle. The war between good and evil is worldwide, and has transpired for 6,000 years!

Before we trusted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we were on Satan’s side of the conflict. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, fighting against God, opposing His will for us (Ephesians 2:1-3)! Now that we have received salvation and become God’s children, we have become Satan’s enemies.

Life is very difficult under the curse of sin and death. What exacerbates that trouble is that we Christians are subject Satan’s attacks. This “present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) is certainly cruel to us, but we should not expect better treatment anyway. After all, the Lord reminded His disciples, “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord” (Matthew 10:24). If the world slandered and executed Christ, they will do the same to us Christians without compunction! Remember, we are in a war, and every conflict has casualties.

Howbeit, the Holy Ghost through the Apostle Paul encourages Timothy (and us) to “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (today’s Scripture). We Christians are not shielded from pain and suffering. Christians worldwide are afflicted for standing firm on God’s Word rightly divided. Hence, we lapse into periods of doubt, wondering if it really is worth it. We grow weary of the suffering, wondering when it will end.

The Holy Ghost reminds us, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:1). We are to be strong, not in ourselves, but “in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Everything that God can do for us through Christ (grace) enables us to “bear” all troubles (1 Corinthians 10:13; Philippians 4:13).

Take comfort, this battle will end, and we Christians will go home to heaven’s glory, becoming Christian veterans! 🙂

The Common People

Saturday, November 10, 2012

“…And the common people heard him gladly” (Mark 12:37 KJV).

Today’s Scripture makes it abundantly clear that God’s Word is for “the common people.”

Upon recently reading a seminarian’s “Bible” study article, I conclude that that was more of a Hebrew study. It left me, a Christian, with more questions than answers. (I can only wonder what confusion it brought to the poor lost souls who read it!)

Oftentimes, theology (mis)leads us to believe that we must go to school for 10 years to learn Koine Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and/or Aramaic, in order to fully grasp the Bible’s concepts. If God required that from us, hardly any of us could ever be saved, or even know God’s will in the first place!!

Contrariwise, God’s Word, the King James Bible, is for the common people. Its 54 faithful, Holy Spirit-filled men who translated it in 1611 knew the Bible languages. They purified and perfected the language of the existing English Bibles to provide us—the common people—with a Bible we could own and read personally (rather than it being chained to a church altar, or “shackled” in Rome’s Latin “bible”).

Notice in today’s Scripture how our Lord Jesus Christ spoke to the common people. He did not depend on the “educated” religious leaders to reach the common people (these “scholars” were too corrupt, and would have perverted His pure doctrine!). Observe what Christ told His Father: “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Luke 10:21).

Dear reader, the key to understanding the Bible is not a college or seminary education. If you have an ear to hear, an eye to see, and you are willing to study God’s Word and learn, the Holy Spirit will illuminate your mind: “Which things we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13).

After all, the Bible is for the common people! 🙂

Tabernacle

Friday, November 9, 2012

“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” (2 Corinthians 5:1 KJV).

This body of flesh and blood will be “dissolved” one day, but the Bible teaches a new, glorified body will replace it.

Genesis 2:7 describes the three-fold division of a human: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground [physical body], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [spirit]; and man became a living soul [soul].” Our visible, physical body houses our invisible soul and spirit. Originally, that physical body was to last forever. But, when sin entered the world, it became subject to death (when the soul and spirit leave the physical body). Hence, our physical body is a “tabernacle” (tent), a temporary abode that must be resurrected one day.

The oldest Bible book asserts, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms [maggots] destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God;” (Job 19:25,26). Yes, short of the Lord’s coming, this physical body will die and “sleep in the dust of the earth” (Daniel 12:2). Nevertheless, the Lord will awaken its remains, and return the spiritual body to it (the bodily resurrection of John 5:28,29).

When we stand before the caskets of Christian loved ones, and observe their lifeless bodies, we take comfort that they are not really there, for their soul and spirit are with God in the third heaven. Their “tabernacle” is empty, and for the Christian, “to be absent from the body, [is] to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). At the rapture, they will receive a new glorified body like unto Jesus Christ’s resurrected body, and then we Christians who are alive and remain will receive our glorified bodies (1 Corinthians 15:49-56; Philippians 3:20,21; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Finally, all Christians will be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, to forever be with Him.

This body is not here to stay…. it is a “tabernacle.”

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

Do We All Worship the Same God? #5

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: they have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat” (Psalm 115:4-7 KJV).

Two common misconceptions are: (1) everyone worships the same God, and (2) everyone will eventually make it to heaven. Today’s Scripture answers both with a resounding “NO!”

King David extols the LORD for His faithfulness: “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side; now may Israel say; if it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us: then the waters had overwhelmed us,…. Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:1-4a,6,8).

David understood that Israel’s military victories were because faithful JEHOVAH was on their side: “[Israel’s] help [was] in the name of the LORD,” because He “made heaven and earth.” Their Almighty Creator God was unlike the idols of today’s Scripture; those idols could do nothing, for Israel or for the heathen (who lost to Israel militarily because they served helpless idols). Thus, the context of today’s Scripture again exhorts Israel to trust in the all-powerful LORD, who “made heaven and earth” (Psalm 115:9-12,15, but especially 15).

Just as Israel was weak without the faithful LORD in physical battles, we have no spiritual victory apart for the faithful Lord Jesus Christ. Only the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, our unfaithfulness; in Him alone is there spiritual life. No religion or idol can provide forgiveness of sins or a way to heaven. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Unless we bypass pagan idols and come by faith through the Lord Jesus Christ alone, we are neither worshipping the one true God nor going to heaven.

Do We All Worship the Same God? #4

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: they have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat” (Psalm 115:4-7 KJV).

Two common misconceptions are: (1) everyone worships the same God, and (2) everyone will eventually make it to heaven. Today’s Scripture answers both with a resounding “NO!”

Verse 8 continues, “They that make them [idols] are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.” God’s Word is very frank: those who make and trust in idols are just as foolish as the idols themselves. The idols can do nothing, so they can do nothing for anyone. Consequently, the Bible encourages Israel (and us) to trust in the true God, not those idols.

“O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield” (verses 9-11). Observe how God directs Israel to put their trust in Him rather than trust in the idols that the heathen make and worship. God’s Word encourages us to do the same thing today—trust not in idols, but trust in the living and true God.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:9, former pagans “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” Once the Apostle Paul and Silas preached the Gospel of the Grace of God to these Thessalonians in Acts chapter 17, they realized their idols could not save them from their sins. Their idols were worthless and useless, just as today’s Scripture affirms. They understood that the God that Paul and Silas preached was “the living and true God.” Unlike their dead idols, this God was living, and He was the true God. And, most importantly, they learned this God alone paid for their sins!

Do We All Worship the Same God? #3

Monday, November 5, 2012

“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: they have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat” (Psalm 115:4-7 KJV).

Two common misconceptions are: (1) everyone worships the same God, and (2) everyone will eventually make it to heaven. Today’s Scripture answers both with a resounding “NO!”

Creation declares that there is a Creator God, His “eternal power and Godhead,” and we are all “without excuse” (Romans 1:20). We all know that God exists (however, we can choose to pretend He does not exist and ignore Him; verses 21-32).

Also, regardless of religion and/or denomination, we all commit sin, and we know that we will be held accountable to God for our unrighteousness. “Because he [God the Father] hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man [Jesus Christ] whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). When the Apostle Paul spoke with Roman official Felix of this “judgment to come,” even pagan Felix “trembled” (Acts 24:25).

Each and every person is born with the general knowledge that there is a God, and that he or she has sins that offend Him. Those sins must be resolved. Thus, religion attracts mankind, who attempts to use religious performance (rites, rituals, ceremonies, prayers, et cetera) to make up for those sins.

Today’s Scripture describes the gods of the world religions as inanimate. They cannot speak, see, hear, smell, hold anything, or walk. How can they help us with our sins? They cannot! The Bible declares that in order to deal with our sins, we must rely on the Almighty God of the Bible, not the weakly idols of the world.