October 31, 2006

What do you say at a Memorial Service for a fellow Christian who has been mentally ill in an institution for decades? During all that time, he had no “good works” to be praised now, so that puts him squarely into Ephesians 2:8, 9, where we read that none of us has any “works” that can help us in the final Day.

We all belong in that poverty-stricken category, dependent only on the formula of salvation, “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” That’s where we all are!

What has that “grace” already done for our brother?

(a) We know that the Lord Jesus is our brother’s Friend, not his enemy; He works to bring him into His everlasting kingdom, not trying to find some reason to keep him out.

(b) From “before the foundation of the world” the Lamb of God was slain for his salvation (Rev. 13:8); God purposed that he should be saved.

(c) His surviving loved ones can look forward with confidence to the resurrection when the Son of God returns in the clouds of heaven and summons the sleeping saints from their rest in the first resurrection.

(d) When our brother gave his heart to the Savior in his youth, the Lord accepted his consecration, and IMPUTED to him His righteousness.

(e) Throughout his life before his mental illness took over, the Lord Jesus in His capacity as the Great High Priest sought to IMPART to Him that righteousness; he cherished that “blessed hope” of being ready to meet the Savior (he’s had to go to his rest, but there will be a people on earth ready to meet the Lord when He returns).

And the Lord Jesus wants us to be in that number! Let’s thank Him, and let Him have His way. (The Prime Minister of Britain is warning the world that global warming will bring disasters not in some future period far off, “but in our lifetime.” Jesus speaks of His second coming, not as some far-off event eons away, but as something He wants to take place “in our lifetime.”) “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

October 30, 2006

Want a good, fascinating book to curl up with on a cold dark night? Take Second Chronicles, and follow the narrative all the way through from King Solomon’s humble prayer for wisdom in chapter one to the cataclysmic extinction of the kingdom which he inherited from David in chapter 36—the most humiliating divine punishment any nation has ever suffered.

Solomon’s glory is almost unbelievable; but his abuses of power contributed to the revolt of ten tribes into the Northern Kingdom (Israel; they never at any time were blessed with even one king who was loyal to the LORD!).

Then the story of the southern kingdom (Judah) is one constant see-saw between royal efforts to be loyal to God’s calling (like Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, or Josiah) and the other kings who promptly would lead the spineless people back into the gross idolatry and immorality of the pagan nations. They never learned until Solomon’s glorious Temple was burned and their 70 year captivity in Babylon.

You hold your breath as you wonder what can possibly come next. The unknown author provides a running commentary straight from the Lord, praising one king, damning another. It’s divine Judgment Day constantly.

You keep wondering, “What could possibly have gone wrong that the one nation that the Lord had chosen to be His soul-winning agency to enlighten the world, Abraham’s descendants, could have failed so miserably?”

There are tell-tale signs that pop up continually: even in their best glory days their motive for serving the Lord is revealed as always egocentric. Do what’s right, and you reap a great reward! It pays to serve Him! (You start feeling uncomfortable, wondering what your motive is!)

Nothing but the Old Covenant which their fathers had chosen to bring upon themselves at Mt Sinai can explain this constant confusion. That mindset governed their relationship to the Lord. Jeremiah said that the coming of the New was still future in his day (31:31, 32).

October 28, 2006

To have faith is not merely to trust the Lord like you trust the bank or the insurance company. You can do that and still remain as selfish as you were before, because such trust is a self-centered concern. The John 3:16 idea of faith solves the problem and lifts our naturally self-centered hearts out of a dark cave into the sunlight: faith is a heart-melting appreciation of what it cost the Son of God to save us.

We know this from several texts that tell us what faith is. Those two things that God did in John 3:16 are: (a) He so loved the world that He (b) gave His only begotten Son. Those two trigger (c): we believe. The (a) and the (b) come before the (c)! If your heart says “Thanks!” for (a) and (b), then you’ve already begun (c). But just begun, for one’s selfish heart only begins to come alive; you grow; the hardness is melted day by day. And that kind of faith “works through love” (agape). Your motives and your conduct are transformed from the inside out. Don’t get discouraged if progress seems slow. The Holy Spirit is working!

In other words, faith couldn’t even exist unless first of all there was the revelation of that love at the cross (agape). All of this is just another way of saying that salvation is by grace, “not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:9).

If faith “works through love,” then there is no end to the good works that it will continually motivate us to do. Here is the victory over every kind of evil the devil tempts us to do. No addict is beyond the Savior’s reach. Stop carrying a load of guilt. Faith is itself a change of heart. It reconciles an alienated, selfish heart to God; and since no one can be reconciled to His holy law, such faith immediately makes the believer become obedient to all ten of the joyous commandments of God. The love of Christ supplies an infinitely powerful motivation.

From then on, it’s not a matter of “what do I have to do in order to be saved?” but “how can I say Thank You enough for saving my soul from hell itself?” It’s an entirely new situation, for “behold, all things have become new,” for “all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:17, 18).

[From The Nearness of Your Savior, by the author of “Dial Daily Bread.”]

October 26, 2006

How does God want you to think of Himself? As some infinitely large and complicated divine Organization designated by a third person pronoun “the ...”?

The Bible reveals Him, but the larger part of it is the “Old Testament” wherein the revelation is not as clear as in the New—at least ancient Israel did not understand “God” very clearly, or they would not have crucified “the Lord of glory,” the very Son of God, when He came.

Over and over again we find the Messiah in the New Testament presenting God to us as “our Father who is in heaven.” Simplest designation possible for humans to grasp! Our first syllable is “Baba” or “Abba, Father,” and the apostle tells us that the Holy Spirit impresses upon us (sinners as we are!) the conviction that we have been “adopted” by this “heavenly Father” (Rom. 8:15)! The Messiah is the Son of God, and He is intimately close to us as the One who “sticketh closer than a brother” (Pr. 18:24), and He delights over and over in calling us His “brethren,” as His Father delights in calling us His adopted children. It’s family! As we think of God as our “Father in heaven,” His Son wants us to think of Him as “Brother.”

Rare and deeply fortunate you are if you had an earthly elder brother who loved you tenderly (this unworthy writer had such). He made it easier for me to think of Jesus in an intimate way, and I owe an enormous debt to him; but many people have been deprived of that “gift.”

More rare and even more deeply fortunate you are if you had an earthly father who interpreted for you the faithful lovingkindness of the heavenly Father. But if you were bereft of that earthly blessing, or thought you were, and you need “Elijah” to “turn [your] heart” in reconciliation to him (Mal. 4:5, 6), then look again at Romans 8 above.

It’s a positive, rock-bottom-truth stated in a double negative: “You did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the [Holy] Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out ‘Abba, Father.’ The [Holy] Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (vss. 15, 16).

The double negative means you have received the conviction of the Holy Spirit that you have been “adopted,” not only into some celestial third person Establishment, but into an intimately close divine family wherein you are a loved child—a sibling, yes, of Christ’s.

October 25, 2006

More and more voices are raised in alarm at what thoughtful people see can be a steady erosion of liberties guaranteed in the American Constitution: the sanctioning of torture, the withdrawal of habeas corpus for even legal aliens, the denial to detainees of basic human rights that were won from King John on the battlefield of Runnymede in 1215. Luke reports Jesus as saying that the time will come when “men’s hearts [are] failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken” (Luke 21:26). He is speaking of today.

What we call the Enlightenment has characterized the history of the last two centuries of European and American culture. The Protestant Reformation had made the American Constitution become a reality, where civil and religious liberty has been guaranteed. These last two centuries have also seen the opening of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation.

Millions around the world see the United States figuring prominently in last-days history as the second political power depicted in Revelation 13:11-17. According to this scenario, the most cruel and unjust persecutions will come not from non-Christian sources but from a post-Christian culture. The Jews were once the true people of God, and the Jerusalem Temple was said by Jesus to have been His “Father’s house.” But the harshest cruelties were not inflicted by pagans but by the apostate “Israelites” who initiated the crucifixion of the divine Savior of the world. The Bible has told us of what to expect in a world where “Babylon is fallen” (Rev. 14:8). Apostate Christianity is tragic; that’s the message of the prophet Daniel.

But it all adds up to Good News of unprecedented glory. Christian colleges and universities will no longer advertise that their graduates get the best paying jobs—they will unabashedly train youth to proclaim the message that “lightens the earth with glory” (18:1-4). Proclaiming “Christ and Him crucified” will lead to self crucified with Christ; and that will be at-one-ment with Him; and that will make possible the ending of the great conflict of the ages.

October 24, 2006

All too seldom does the popular media bring us a news story that is good news, uplifting, encouraging. But that has come out of Americus, Georgia.

Forty-one years ago, racial tension in Americus boiled over into the high school. It began with parents, of course; but the teens made it painful. One student in particular suffered the brunt of bitter persecution, because he came from a family that was known for its connection with “koinonia,” a Christian group that favored racial integration. He just didn’t “fit” in the culture of that high school, and students made him feel unwelcome in many ways. In fact, they made his high school life to be virtually a “hell” for him, right through graduation, according to this news article in the Sacramento Bee, entitled “Hellish 60’s school days.” Greg Whittkamper had to take away bitter memories. Reading the story leaves you convinced, they “crucified” that boy.

There was one other student, however, who finally at graduation did express some little sense of sympathy, David Morgan.

Now, 41 years later (living in West Virginia), Greg finds a surprising letter in his mailbox from David inviting him to their 41-year class reunion. This is followed by several others from students, all wanting to apologize and make amends for their attitude long ago. One was from Deanie Fricks, a girl he had had a secret crush on. (She drove up from Naples, Florida, for the reunion.)

The Holy Spirit “convicts the world of sin” (John 16:8). The church, too. Even within it, in these last days, there is division, hard feelings, alienation, the modern equivalent of the “parties” that afflicted the church in the days of Paul (1 Cor. 3:3, 4). Sometimes tensions persist for decades, as they did in the Americus graduating class. And always, under the surface the dear Holy Spirit of God works to melt those cold, hard, selfish hearts, to awaken dormant Christlike love, to create understanding and heart unity.

Is that not an evidence that “Elijah” is working to “turn hearts” (Mal. 4:5, 6)? Thank you, Americus, for a glimmer of hope in today’s media news.

October 23, 2006

For many, many Christians around the world, today, October 22 has been a memorable anniversary of the beginning of what has been understood as the antitypical Day of Atonement—the grand fulfillment of the 2300 year prophecy of Daniel (8:14).

It’s the special time when, during his “time of the end” (12:4; 11:35), hearts alienated from God shall be reconciled to Him in preparation for the return of Jesus. Sends chills up and down your spine to think about.

The world is like “as in the days that were before the flood” (Matt. 24:38), which means that there is a witness being borne today as Noah bore in those 120 years before the rain fell (Heb. 11:7). Only a few responded then. We are not to be surprised if only a few, comparatively speaking, respond to God’s message today. Time for some trembling before the Lord.

But also, time for a special joy. Jesus is real, He is not on vacation. He is ministering from a store of much more abounding grace a message imparted intimately to reconcile hearts to the Father, hearts that have been alienated.

It’s the story of Job all over again. Multitudes have met disappointment in life, the shattering of their dreams, the loss of career, a poisoned love, the failure of health, in many cases among us having to face an untimely death. And in our humanity we have been tempted to feel that either God sent the misfortune or that He was callous in permitting it (remember, temptation is not necessarily sin!). The family of God is full of people like Job; for each one, the Savior has a special yearning of heart. Can you imagine how His heart sympathized with Job, but there was absolutely nothing that He could do; he had to let Job wrestle all alone down in the arena, or give up the great controversy and let Satan win.

And can you imagine how God’s heart thrilled with joy to watch Job “overcome” triumphantly? (ch. 42:7-12). Now may you and I also overcome, and bring joy to His heart! That’s a good life work for us.

October 21, 2006

When God’s long-promised “Elijah” comes, just before Christ’s second coming, his first task in “turn[ing] hearts” will be reconciling those that are alienated from God. The means that “Elijah” will use will be the full revelation of “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1, 2): (a) the Son of God “emptied Himself” in giving Himself for the world (Phil. 2:5, 6); (b) He died the world’s second death (Heb. 2:9)—“what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love [agape] of Christ which passes knowledge” (Eph. 3:18, 19). The world will take a fresh look.

The lesson that Job learned will be the lesson God’s people worldwide learn, at last. Job thought that the abuse that Satan was pouring on him was coming from God. He didn’t know the behind-the-scenes disclosure of chapter 1. “The great controversy between Christ and Satan” was being worked out in Job himself. Thus the afflicted man poured out his truly righteous indignation against God for His perceived or apparent injustice. Job didn’t take Satan’s cruelty lying down; he eloquently screamed his protest in God’s ears. It was a massive case of mistaken identity. And God honored him for speaking up (42:8).

In spite of all the apparent evidence of “God’s” cruelty, with no revelation in a Bible to guide him (he had none!), Job reasoned himself into what the Bible calls “the atonement”: “though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” ( 13:15).

In “turn[ing] hearts,” “Elijah” will accomplish for the honest-hearted people in the world, as a corporate “body,” a resolvement of all the mistaken identity in mankind’s view of God. In the truest sense, we are living in the antitypical “Day of Atonement,” the day of at-oneness with God. The history of the world will at last be seen in the light of Christ’s sacrifice, and people will understand. We have always thought all this will have to await the future life, but the “at-one-ment” must take place before Christ can come! Otherwise no one could face Christ personally, in His glory. Only “the pure in heart [can] see God”(Matt. 5:8).

Father, please send “Elijah” soon!

October 20, 2006

People thought the apostle Paul was unbalanced mentally in his unmeasured devotion to Christ. The story of the Savior’s love at His cross motivated him, pushed him forward relentlessly, so that he found it impossible to go on living for self. It made him a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). Thus, he says, “we ... plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (6:1).

In other words, let the grace work, let it have its way! Stop resisting it.

(1) It’s not cold “doctrine” for the theologians to wrangle over; it’s day-by-day practical living as the liberating ministry of what grace does.

(2) Our believing is the door that “provides access by faith into this grace in which we stand” (Rom. 5:1, 2). Yes, our part is important.

(3) “The gift by the grace ... abounded to [the] many” (Gk), that is, everybody (vs. 15). Someone wisely said that “in the matchless gift of His Son God has encircled the whole world with an atmosphere of grace as real as the air which circulates around the globe. All who choose to breathe this life-giving atmosphere will live, and grow up to the stature of men and woman in Christ Jesus.” Is it such “hard work” to be saved as we have thought? “Breathe ... !” (Well, yes, the “choosing”—that’s the so-called hard work, isn’t it? Shame on us for twisting the message and even imagining that that’s “hard”!)

(4) Walk outdoors and fill your lungs with fresh air; then ask if you could breathe any more if you were the only person on earth. An infinite heavenly Father has created the whole world just for you.

(5) Then look at all those we-thought-were-wicked-people also filling their lungs with that same atmosphere of grace; who knows who of them will respond at last as “Elijah” gets busy “turn[ing] hearts.”

(6) That grace “abounds” more than all the pits of sin we’ve managed ourselves to fall into (vss. 20, 21; cf. Prov. 22:14). That’s stupendous!

(7) It makes it impossible for the one who believes to continue in sin! Captivity to evil habits, drugs, alcohol, pornography, the apparently endless alienations from love—are vanquished. Grace imposes a new captivity, this time to the love of Christ. You’ll never be your own again. You’ve already received the grace; “let it not be in vain.”

October 19, 2006

The promise of God intrigues God’s people worldwide: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Mal. 4:5).

Elijah did the “impossible.” He was the human agency that permitted the Lord to do what nobody thought could be done—turning the apostate “heart” of fallen Israel “back again” in repentance (1 Kings 18:37).

The most difficult achievement on planet earth is “turning” alienated “hearts.” All the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put Humpty Dumpty together again; hearts can’t be “turned” unless souls are crucified “with Christ” (Gal. 2:20), and that means to die the equivalent of the “second death,” “with Him.” The giving up of everything for the sake of the lost love—can it be done?

Everybody says “No!” “Elijah” says “Yes!”

We don’t have to go far in Malachi to find context of the kind of alienations “Elijah” is concerned about. “The Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth. ... Let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garments, saith the Lord of hosts” (2:14-16).

What is “violence”? Forcing heartbreak on someone, for it’s violent wrenching against his/her will. When hearts are in the love of “youth,” separations wound very painfully. The great Lord of heaven and earth “witnesses” “putting away.” It pains Him, for He wants us to be happy.

No one on earth can put Humpty together again; let no one try on his own, for he/she can make bad matters worse. The Lord has promised He will “send Elijah the prophet” to do things that are impossible for any of us to try to do. But if Jesus Christ is to come the second time, “Elijah” has to come first. Time to walk softly before the Lord!

October 18, 2006

U.S. News and World Report displays this week a provocative title for its lead article: “Science and the Soul” (a pensive young woman on its cover). The article concludes with a touch of reality, contrasting Plato’s immortal soul philosophy with the Biblical truth of the resurrection of the body. Malcolm Jeeves, honorary professor of psychology at the University of St. Andrews, is one of “many believing scientists” who now soberly realize that “the original Christian view was not the immortality of the soul but the resurrection of the body. ... As many Christian theologians now say, human beings do not have souls; they are souls.” But Plato’s philosophy “did creep in, ... winning over ... [great leaders like] Augustine and John Calvin.”

Jeeves thinks “it will take decades” for many Christians to accept the truth. But for someone who believes that we are already living in the last days of earth’s history, in the Biblical “time of the end” (Dan. 12:4) when the second coming of Christ is imminent, when Jesus says that “this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled” (Matt. 24:34)—more delaying “decades” are perplexing and disappointing.

Speaking of that “generation, “ Jesus said, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world, ... and then the end will come” (vs. 14). Jeeves may not realize God’s promise, “He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth” (Rom. 9:28). God’s plan is that the apostasy in the Christian church that took centuries to develop shall be unmasked in that “short work” that the Lord will “make,” and every honest soul worldwide will rejoice in His “righteousness.” The message will then become crystal clear.

Confidence that Christ will do that “short work” is essential to Day of Atonement living. To the believer, His soon coming is always present truth.
 

October 17, 2006

A late Newsweek discloses interesting news: Some Roman Catholics and other Christians are choosing to fast (pre-Lent) during the 30 days of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Their idea:

“[1] soothe tensions,...

[2] express political solidarity with Muslims,

[3] increase awareness of global hunger,

[4] as a spiritual discipline, or

[5] to strengthen interfaith friendship.”

Ramadan “fasting” is to abstain from food, drink, or pleasures, “from sunup to sundown.” After sundown, presumably, partake freely.

There is a minority of Christian people who see deep significance in the Biblical teaching of the great antitypical Day of Atonement which began in 1844 at the end of Daniel’s prophecy of the 2300 years (Dan. 8:14). They believe that life now is a constant “fast.” On the ancient Levitical typical “day of atonement” believers were commanded to “fast” on that one “tenth day of the seventh month.”

A “fast” appropriate for living in the cosmic Day of Atonement cannot be total abstinence from food or drink, of course; rather, it’s reasonable self-denial in day by day, life-long living in “awareness of global hunger,” and in “spiritual discipline” as Christ disciplined Himself. And of course, to live the happy life of Christlike love to “strengthen interfaith friendship.”

It’s a spiritual “fast” that makes the church “be the body of Christ” in a corporate sense, aware of something meaningful to live for: proclaiming a message that will so arrest attention worldwide that it can truthfully be said to “lighten the earth with glory” (Rev. 18:1-4).

A part of that “fast” is to practice control of appetite to the point where we eat to live rather than live to eat. Most of all, it is fellowship with and sympathy for the personal Christ who must feel the world’s pain, who is now busily engaged 24/7 in preparing a people worldwide to be ready to meet Himself personally at His imminent second coming.

October 16, 2006

“What-would-Jesus-do?” or “what-car-would-Jesus-drive?” are popular questions. In the wake of the Amish school massacre, it might not be off-limits to ask what He would do as a boy of 12 if such a terrorist had walked into the “school” where He had met with the priests in the Jerusalem Temple (cf. Luke 2:41ff). Yes, there were terrorists in His day.

When He was 33, the answer became obvious: He submitted to the terrorism of the chief priests and elders. He meekly let them handcuff Him, drag Him off, and condemn Him unjustly, and then crucify Him. He did not protest, scream, or struggle as did His two companions—thieves. But He knew who He was—“the Lamb of God,” and as such it was His duty to “open ... not His mouth, ... [be] led as a lamb to the slaughter” (Isa. 53:7). But how would He confront a gunman as one of us today? Don’t say this is an impossible scenario; we have Columbine and the Pennsylvania Amish school, and too numerous copycat incidents.

The principal and teachers of one school in Burleson, Texas may not be citing Jesus as an example, but they are teaching the children not to hide under the desks or meekly obey orders as did the Amish children, but to oppose the terrorist en masse, rush him, pelt him with books or whatever objects are at hand, even pencils, take him down; the reasoning is stark, if they have to die anyway, then die trying for justice. Some there favor the idea, some oppose.

No one can keep the daily news from children these days; it would be good if thoughtful teachers (and parents) could discuss with children, “What would Jesus do? What should we do?” If the Holy Spirit were not kept out of the meeting, they would not be traumatized by the discussion. It would be healthful if what Jesus said could be pondered. The children themselves might come up with some Spirit-inspired ideas, for often we know the Holy Spirit has communicated with children. We can trust Him!

Of course, we can pray most earnestly that the dear Lord will spare us such a confrontation; but others have had to meet it; so may we. But whatever, the bottom line truth will reassure us all, “Under [the Father’s] wings you shall take refuge, ... you shall not be afraid of the terror ...” (Psalm 91:4, 5). Children will believe that, trust Him, and be happy.

October 15, 2006

Did Jesus have a temper? Ever get angry? Can we honestly say that He ever was violent, even a little bit—righteously so, without sin? (We know the Bible is clear, He never sinned; He was always in control.) The answer may be surprising:

Early in His ministry (He was still only 30), one day He seemed to the people around Him as One possessed unlike Himself. It was so strange, someone could have asked Him, “What’s eating You?” While they watched Him in this uncharacteristic mode, “His disciples remembered that it was written [in Psalm 69:9], The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up.”

What “ate Him up”? His holy concern for the Jews’ Temple which was then the house of His Father “for all people.” They were desecrating it with profane, hard hearts. It was His first Passover since beginning His ministry. As he watched the worldly, selfish, commercial bargaining in the holy House itself, the selling of the cattle and doves, He was overcome by the horror of this massive hypocrisy at the very headquarters—heart of the true church of God in all the world for that day. All the righteous indignation that will flare forth in the final Day of Judgment blazed in his human eyes (He was “Emmanuel, ... God with us”!). He “made a scourge of small cords” with which He never touched a soul physically, but brandishing it He “drove them all out of the temple” and in the process grabbed their tables, turned them upside down, scattered all their money helter-skelter all over the floor. Get out of here! “Take these things hence.” Strangely, no one could argue or linger; all ran for their lives (John 2:13-21).

A display of temper? You better believe it! Divine temper, yes. You and I don’t want ever to face it—either now or in the last Day. Let’s walk softly.

Such holy fear is not sinfully selfish. It’s common sense. How can we say we believe in Jesus unless the “zeal of [His] house hath eaten [us] up” too? His agape constraineth us henceforth to live not for self but for Him” (see 2 Cor. 5:14, 15). Total oneness with Him. Anything short of that is sin to be deeply ashamed of at last.

October 13, 2006

We all know that King Solomon was the wisest man in the world, and probably the richest; but was his thinking dominated by the Old Covenant, or the New? There were many good, faithful Israelites who did many good works, under the Old. In ancient times, it was better than paganism (Old Covenant “Christian” living is better today than being in “Babylon”; we can be proud that we’ve “come out”).

Solomon’s Ecclesiastes is certainly not gospel-oriented, although by much searching we can find a little good news hope therein; but Solomon’s enormous ego dominates. God gave him the wisdom that he requested when a youth, but he later came to see it as his acquirement. His message in Ecclesiastes is basically egocentric: do what’s right and you’ll reap a great reward. “Wisdom”!

(The “good news” is that after his descending to the level of paganism and even offering a child as a burnt offering, and tragically mis-feeding his people with theological poison that eventually ruined the kingdom, God forgave the foolish old king and restored him personally, drooping with contrition, to salvation-favor—giving hope to any sinner today who has gone the length in rebellion against the Lord.)

But was it really Solomon’s fault totally that he fell? Reality is that he inherited Old Covenant thinking all the way from Mt. Sinai. Jeremiah later saw it clearly—the New Covenant in that day remained the one that the Lord will make [future tense] with the house of Israel, after those days, says the LORD” (31:33, emphasis supplied). Revival after revival under “good kings” was only temporary in nature (the Northern Kingdom never had even one!), until the Old Covenant finally drove Israel into captivity in Babylon, and then in the end to crucify their Messiah.

Moral: it’s time for us to grow up out of the Old into the New!

October 12, 2006

It’s been a sublime truth only dimly comprehended and kept in the background for millennia: the divine Son of God loves the corporate body of “Israel” as one man loves one woman. It surfaces in the Bible occasionally.

There is Ezekiel 16 that details Israel’s “life” from abandonment as a baby at birth to Christ’s adoption of “her” and His loving upbringing of her; then the paternal love metamorphoses into conjugal love as she becomes a stunningly beautiful woman. All the centuries of Israel’s existence from Jacob to Ezekiel are the life span of one woman personified. Her infidelity is powerfully portrayed.

Then there is Hosea: the poor man is captive to the love he has for this lady Gomer. (She must have been somebody to attract all those men and still keep the love of Hosea!) He can’t help himself—that’s the nature of the love that “is as powerful as death ... Water cannot put it out, no flood can drown it” (S. S. 8:6, 7). The prophet is driven back to that one woman in spite of her repeated addiction for infidelity. At last her heart of hearts is won for him and her conjugal love becomes also the holy “reverence” for a husband that Paul describes in Ephesians (5:33) that a manly husband unwittingly inspires. The tragic sounding plot ends in the major key.

And Jesus also cannot help Himself: He loves His bride-to-be. He must describe His second coming as a Bridegroom coming to a wedding (Matt. 25:1-13).

Finally, at the end of the last book of the Bible, the Revelator describes the climax of the cosmic Day of Atonement as a love alienation finally resolved. The very dilatory bride is conscience-driven to “make herself ready” to recompense the faithful love of her long-disappointed Bridegroom (19:7, 8).

It’s a New Covenant story; now it’s time for us to be concerned that our Savior receive His reward. That’s what’s back of the Day of Atonement.

October 11, 2006

Never have we had a greater longing to understand “Bible prophecy” than now: what is North Korea up to, and what will they do? Are they already in the Nuclear Club? The TV glimpses of those hordes of goose-stepping soldiers reawakens our personal fears of Hitler’s goose-stepping Nazis of the 1930’s. We don’t again want high tech militarism in the hands of totalitarian, hateful fanatics. And a crippling war in the Middle East is a strain already on our own resources; we dread a re-play of the horrors of the Asian theatre of World Wars II and Viet Nam. Worst of all, we fear the unloosing of the demons within ourselves once we start down the pathway of our own Abu Ghraibs and Gitmo tortures.

If we knew all the “prophecy” answers, we could attract crowds again to hear our preaching; but “though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity [agape], I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2). The history of “evangelism” in those tumultuous decades is not too glorious; curious people were attracted, yes, but in general they didn’t strengthen the “body of Christ.”

The KJV word “charity” seems nebulous, but ADRA is not the definition of the original word, wonderful as its mountain-moving accomplishments are. What the present world hungers to hear is the revelation of agape; it’s a “science” of truth well worth careful study in our highest institutions of learning. A well-trained “army of youth” who understand it will indeed finish the gospel commission on earth.

October 10, 2006

In a discussion with some young people we got hung up on a question about an unknown boy. His unknown mother had baked him five little barley loaves, and cooked two small fishes, all to be his lunch. Whatever fun outing he had planned that day, he went instead to hear Jesus preach. That showed some faith, didn’t it? At the meeting, his interest was such that he came down near the front and apparently mingled with the Twelve. Hungry late in the day, he wanted to eat his lunch as much as anybody, but he heard Jesus tell the Twelve to feed the people, 5000. He heard the apostles bewail their lack of food, and childlike in his gladsome enthusiasm told Andrew that he would give his lunch to Jesus. That showed a commendable denial of self for a hungry boy, didn’t it? Was he motivated by the love of Christ? Was he helping Jesus, or only as a 2-year old “helps” you sweep the floor? (John 6:1-11.)

Jesus accepted the little boy’s sacrifice, thanked His Father for the pitifully little gift in His hands, prayed for His blessing upon it, and forthwith fed the 5000 with its multiplied bounty.

Now for the question: did He need that little boy’s sacrificial lunch? If the child had refused to give it, could Jesus have fed that multitude?

Thereupon in our discussion, we split. Most said, “Yes, He could have brought manna down from heaven!” I asked, “Suppose we individually refuse to do our duty in telling the world the gospel message, can the Lord use someone else?” “Yes,” was the immediate response; “He’ll use the angels; they’ll finish the work!”

To me that sounded like a dangerous cop-out. Why bother to answer the Holy Spirit’s convictions of duty? Reach for your remote and flip on the TV. The angels will finish God’s work!

I maintained that the Lord Jesus needed that little boy’s gift of his lunch. Yes, He could have brought down manna from heaven, but He would not any more than He would change those stones in the wilderness into bread (Matt. 4). I believe that little boy was tremendously important that day. Jesus really did need Him. The conclusion of course is, He really needs you, too; if you cop out, someone will be lost. Am I wrong??

October 9, 2006

The Wise Man, King Solomon (who also lost much of his God-given wisdom through apostasy) declared that there is “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Eccl. 3:7). Knowing when to do either, and the courage to do it, is our day by day task. When the Son of God became one of us in the flesh, He would rise early in the morning and seek His Father’s tuition for the day (Isa. 50:4, 5). Thirteen year old Marian Fisher must have prayed that morning before she went to the little school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, where she begged the wicked and murderous intruder to “shoot me first instead of the little girls,” or words to that effect. She knew when the time had come for her to “speak.”

When Jesus was arrested, bound and dragged to the house of Caiaphas, He asked the murderous police to “let these [His disciples] go their way” while He would suffer alone for them (John 18:8). Perhaps Marian had read that story at some time and remembered.

But Jesus also was ready to “speak” up before the high priest in courageous fearlessness. When the cruel “officer ... struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, ... Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou Me?” (vss. 20-23). That was love on the part of Jesus; He tried to save that man’s soul by appealing to his awareness of justice. For ought we know, the man may later have repented, for Jesus prayed for His murderers, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), and the Father answered that prayer.

The courage Jesus showed in rebuking the man straightforwardly when He knew he could retaliate with greater evil, is an inspiration to us. Jesus could have spoken up as He did only if in Him, self was already crucified. Solomon was right—“there is ... a time to speak,” and Jesus knew when His had come.

O Father! Please prepare us for when our “time to speak” may “come”!

October 8, 2006

Is Jesus Christ embarrassed by the apparent success of evolution? Vast numbers who in former generations were reverent, who stood in awe of the God of the Bible, whose hearts were moved by the story of Jesus, who reverenced the message of the Bible, today despise it because they have embraced the message of the scientists who say that their evidence proves that a six-days creation of the world has been rendered impossible.

Jesus Christ spoke of Genesis as a true book which He accepted as valid. Multitudes in “Christendom” used to gather in great church buildings to worship and listen to reverent sermons. Now—has “science” embarrassed Jesus? Was He naive? Did He deprive Himself of the confidence of thinking people? If you and I are thoughtful people, what shall we believe?

Although there is a vast amount of literature upholding evolution, remember that there is also a considerable literature which maintains that the teaching of a divine creation in six days (as Genesis says) is more reasonable scientifically than is evolution. But arguments back and forth do little good.

The scene of conflict has shifted: the new battleground is love—not the superficial, egocentric love-emotion that humanity knows naturally; the issue is agape. It’s the towering truth of “Christ and Him crucified” as the coming focal point of world attention. The God of creation and redemption has implanted in human hearts a longing for truth and right (cf. Gen. 3:15); He knows well how to capture the attention of the humanity He has created (and redeemed). Psalm 67, for example, declares the world witness that God intended ancient Israel to bear: “God ... cause His face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known, ... Your salvation among all nations. ... All the ends of the earth shall fear [reverence] Him” (vss. 1, 2, 7).

The truth of agape is a great field of “science” in itself; the world awaits the revelation of the career of the “little horn” of Daniel, how this world power has counterfeited the cross of the Son of God, tried to nullify agape, made the world into a vast, fallen “Babylon.” But truth is coming out boldly.

Those whose hearts are moved, “constrained,” by the agape of Christ will never be embarrassed.

October 7, 2006

Someone has asked the question, “Since God knew before what man would do—that is, rebel and sin, why did He create us? Why didn’t He make us so we could not sin, and thus save all this trouble that sin has brought?” To answer this question adequately would take wisdom far beyond this unworthy servant’s, and also thousands of years; but we can begin to understand:

(1) For the same reason that parents take the risk of having a baby: they know their child could rebel against them and make their life a hell on earth, yet they have the baby anyway. Parents don’t want a mechanical doll that can only repeat, “I love you, I love you.”

(2) God’s very character is the love (agape) that gives liberty (Lev. 25:10). Without the freedom of choice, “love” cannot be genuine.

(3) Granting freedom to man means God must endure hell Himself, for He “so loved the world that He gave [not lent] His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish” (John 3:16). In so loving us, He must Himself taste what it means to “perish.”

(4) That reveals how unbelief (or dis-belief) brings “death.” “The wages of sin is death,” says Romans 6:23. Death is not an arbitrary act of revenge and “get even” on the part of God; the Today’s English Version says, “Sin pays its wages—death.” Sin has death wrapped up within it: “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself,” pleads God in Hosea 13:9. But because God is love, He is forced to let man go through this hell, which He must share with us. There is no other way that the universe can see the full revelation of the character of God, just as there is no other way for parents to let their offspring learn to know truth other than to beget them.

(5) Parents’ hearts are broken when their child rebels; so God’s heart has been broken by the horror of man’s sin.

(6) The Son of God must humble Himself, “empty” Himself (Phil. 2:5-8), “pour out His soul unto death” (Isa. 53:12), “taste death [the second] for every man” (Heb. 2:9), know the full horror of hell—“My God why hast Thou forsaken Me?” is the deep-hearted cry of dereliction He wails in Matthew 27:46; Psalm 22:1. Such love is terribly expensive for God!

(7) We don’t understand the cross unless we see that Christ went to “hell” for us (Acts 2:27, KJV; Gal. 3:13). This revelation of the “breadth, and length, and depth, and height” of love (agape, Eph. 3:17, 18) brings conversion to an honest heart that chooses to be “crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20).

October 6, 2006

Did the early apostles expect the second coming of Christ in their lifetime, as we expect it today? If the answer is “Yes,” then how can we be sure that our “blessed hope” in His soon return is not another 2000 years too early, as was theirs?

Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians gives the impression that he expected Christ’s return in his lifetime. And that’s what the people got from it. But Paul immediately writes back to straighten them out. No, he says, he didn’t mean that; they misunderstood him (Paul did not apologize for misleading them!). He made himself clear in his Second Letter: “We beseech you, ... that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand” (2 Thess. 2:1). Thank God we have his reply to them, so it can straighten us out, too.

Paul goes on to tell them that Christ cannot return until the prophecies of Daniel have been fulfilled in history when “that man of sin” (Daniel’s little horn) has done his evil work. He reminds them that when he was with them he had taught them about that “man of sin.” This does not mean that Paul had a clear understanding of all of Daniel’s prophecies; but he knew enough to know that the great controversy between Christ and Satan must run its course, or the end could not come. A far-off mountain on a very clear day looks close.

The second coming of Christ is the only hope the world has ever had. Only then can the dead be resurrected to eternal life. Naturally, God’s people through the ages have always cherished this “blessed hope.” But now we know that the prophecies about the 1260, and the 2300, years, and many details, have been fulfilled. The signs of Christ’s soon return have almost been fulfilled. Thus we know that His return is “even at the doors” (Matt. 24:33, 34). “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Yes, but not for our sakes alone—many are suffering.

October 5, 2006

What does it mean “to think soberly”? The Holy Spirit, “through the grace” of God, moved the apostle of the Lord to urge all of us (“everyone who is among you”) to think that way (Rom. 12:3).

Thinking that way is the essence of life on this great Day of Atonement in world history—just before the final judgment and the second coming of Jesus. Selfish fun and comedy are inappropriate now in this special “time of the end” (Dan. 12:4). That means that “everyone” whose heart is moved by that “grace” will find that worldly pleasures and comedy do not satisfy the deep yearnings that the Holy Spirit has placed in our hearts just now.

“Atonement” means in very simple words, “at-one-with,” or reconciliation of heart with God; and we can know God only through knowing Christ, for He alone can reveal God to us so we can understand the Father.

That means that one interest is henceforth paramount with us: the “Christ and Him crucified” idea that possessed Paul when he came from Athens to Corinth (1 Cor. 2:1, 2). We find ourselves in sympathy with Christ; on Friday morning in Pilate’s judgment court, we are not warming ourselves around the fire with Peter and the youth who are cracking jokes about that unworldly Man on trial, Peter aching within his heart but outwardly smiling at their fun in order to appear to be with the “crowd.” It’s painful to be “sober” when everyone around you is full of mirth. Watching TV comedy is considered fun recreation and the raucous laughter that prevails is considered innocent; but “the everyone who is among you” that Paul speaks of is very uncomfortable there, for he cannot get out of his mind the reality of that “Christ and Him crucified.”

The “great controversy between Christ and Satan” is raging right here; it’s being fought in the heart of that same “everyone who is among you.”

But Jesus hasn’t forgotten his Peter warming himself by the fun-loving-people’s fire; the Savior watches His tempted disciple with tears in His eyes of divine love. And “God has dealt to each one [of us] a measure of [genuine] faith,” adds Paul, so we can think seriously, “soberly,” in a world of pleasure seeking. It’s a gift of that much more abounding grace of God. We repent in behalf of those who do not know about this Day of Atonement. Let’s not be ashamed to “think soberly” in their presence.

October 4, 2006

Psalm 103 is our beloved “Day of Atonement” song of reconciliation with the Lord. It begins and ends with “Bless the Lord, ... O my soul.” And the word “bless” obviously means “to make happy.” So the psalm tells us how to make the Lord Himself to be happy. Does He need any help?

That’s a nice life-work for any of us!

The way to make Him happy is to be happy ourselves “in Christ” in these last days of the Savior’s ministry as our great High Priest. The psalm’s high point is: (1) He “forgives all your iniquities,” and parallel to that, (2) He “heals all your diseases” (vs. 3). We must walk softly here, for there are diseased people whose sins have all been forgiven, and sometimes they even die; but wait a moment: are we really sure that all of our unknown sins have been forgiven in the true sense of the word, that is, taken away—not just pardoned?

That “blotting out of sins” is distinct from the pardoning of sins. This is the special work of Daniel’s “cleansing of the sanctuary” (8:14). This work cannot be accomplished in heaven until first of all the sins have been forgiven, blotted out, in and from the hearts of those who “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Rev. 14:4, 5). They are that special group known as the 144,000. (Don’t be scared that there won’t be “room” for you; the “room” depends on the breadth and length and depth and height of your faith, which is a heart appreciation of the love [agape] of Christ, Eph. 3:17-19.)

Part of the happiness the Lord wants us to know is that our “mouth [be] satisfied with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:5). Is such dietary pleasure health-inducing? It says so. It’s e-educating our taste to be “reconciled” (there’s “atonement” again!) to enjoy the foods that God has created to be “received with thanksgiving” (1 Tim. 4:4). Day of atonement living includes that re-educating our diet. To list all those delicious foods is impossible. How can you doubt there is a loving Creator who created them all in six days when you consider alone the annual progression of fruits through the year, from the earliest strawberries in spring, through summer peaches, then pears, to those delicious persimmons in late autumn! Just a tiny example of the Lord’s goodness. Yes, “bless the Lord, O my soul”! He heals diseases, and enjoying foods He has created is one way.

October 3, 2006

Conservative Christians for hundreds of years have discussed (even argued) the relationship between faith and works. Their favorite word used to describe it is “balance.” The popular idea is that one must hold faith and works in “balance.” If you talk about faith for ten minutes then you must also talk about works for ten minutes. However, a check of the concordance reveals that nowhere in the Bible is the word “balance” used to describe this relationship. In inspired writings, there is practically nothing to suggest the use of that word as being appropriate. Scripture and inspired writings are clear “beyond question” that salvation is totally by grace through faith, and Paul even goes out of his way to add, “Not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9). The “balance” idea strongly suggests that salvation is by faith and by works, a 50/50 deal. Which if true, would certainly give the saved ones something to boast about: “yes, Jesus saved me, but look, I did my part too!”

One popular little book is entitled Faith And Works, the title having been added by editors long after the author’s death. Yet inside the covers, the original author repeatedly speaks of the correct formula as being “faith which works.”

Yes, the Bible is true; there is only one Savior, Jesus; none of us is a co-savior. It’s not a 50/50 salvation trip; it’s 100% salvation by Christ, received by faith. But the faith is not the “dead faith” that the apostle James decries (James 2:20). A “dead faith” can produce nothing except self-righteousness (which doesn’t have a very nice fragrance!). A living faith works; it has to work; it will work; it always works. The “works” is a verb and not a noun.

What is faith? How does the Bible define it? It is not a synonym for works! The devil hates the idea of salvation by faith alone, by faith which works. If in any way he can inject into our thinking the idea that faith is itself works, then he has us deceived. John 3:16 has it: “God loved,” “God gave,” and we “believe” (the same in Greek as have faith). Faith is a human heart response to God’s loving and giving. “With the heart one believes to righteousness” (Rom. 10:10). “Beware,.... lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief” (Heb. 3:12).