December 29, 2006

We are smothered with advertising for sales—grocery, department, hardware stores, whatever.  But we can’t have any of the precious goods the merchant offers unless we take the initiative to come and pay the price. We must take the first step; otherwise, all he offers is in vain for us.

Many youth have acquired a similar idea of God’s salvation. What Christ accomplished by His sacrifice on His cross makes an “offer” which does us no good unless we take the initiative to come and get it. Many just don’t want to get “involved.” They back off. Don’t take the offer.

I sense no gratitude to the merchant who “offers” me his merchandise; and if I pay his price and take it, I feel I owe him nothing. We’re on equal terms now. Is this Christ’s salvation bargain? He has done nothing for me if I decline His “offer.” And if I accept His “offer,” I have done my part in the salvation transaction. The best kind of devotion possible for me to feel then is lukewarmness.

For hundreds of years this has been the idea most Catholics and Protestants have had. But Romans and Galatians give a different idea: Christ’s sacrifice has already impacted every human being, whether or not he/she believes. It is not a mere offer; He has given the gift to “all,” yes, say some thoughtful believers, He has placed the GIFT in your hands. Ephesians says He has already “blessed” us all, “chosen us in Him,” “predestinated us unto the adoption of children,” “made us accepted in the Beloved,” in Him we already “have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace [UNmerited favor]” (1:3-7). It about takes your breath away—but there it is, it’s true. Read it. But of course, you must receive it—you must open your heart for it—you must “belileve.” And that of course means you will obey gladly.

According to the Bible, we are all “Esau” who didn’t need to do anything to “get” the birthright. It was GIVEN, not just “offered” to him—from his birth. According to the Bible, every baby born into the world comes with the GIFT of the “birthright” to heaven given legally or objectively  “in Christ.” But we can refuse the gift. But too many do like Esau—“despise,” “sell” what He gave them. We don’t need to do that: “whosoever will” can cherish, treasure, appreciate the Gift—what the Bible means by the word “believe.” Tell Him, “Thank You!”

December 28, 2006

The History Channel has just put on a program about “Armageddon.” It painted the last book of the Bible in dreadful, frightful, terrifying terms. At the very end, it told about William Miller, the farmer in upstate New York who was impressed with Daniel 8:14, and became (eventually) convinced that Christ was coming on October 22, 1844. The program attributed fanaticism to his followers, declaring that they assembled on a large rock (pictured by a photo) on Miller’s farm on that day to await the coming of Christ. It pictured the sun setting that evening, signaling the total failure of Miller’s theology.

The vast majority of those who had once rejoiced in the message turned their backs on it and pronounced their former faith a delusion. But a mere handful held on because they believed that the true Holy Spirit of God had worked in the final “Midnight Cry” movement. The History Channel reported at the close that there is a group who today still hold to truths understood by Miller—the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which does NOT set a date for Christ’s return.

The History Channel were right in that statement; but they failed to go on to tell how the Seventh-day Adventist Church believe that Miller was right in the date, October 22, 1844, which was the correct date for the ending of the prophecy of 2300 “days” (years) in Daniel 8; but Miller did not understand the true event. In just a short time, those few who recognized the Holy Spirit found the truth that the “sanctuary” is in heaven, the antitype of the ancient Levitical sanctuary; and Christ “coming” was His moving from the first apartment of the sanctuary to the second, an event vividly prophesied in Revelation 10.

“Present truth” today is the message of Christ’s closing sanctuary ministry in that Most Holy Apartment joined with a clearer view of righteousness by faith than even Luther in his day was able to grasp: the truth will lighten the earth with glory in its final proclamation.

The History Channel omitted such Good New, because its authors did not understand the core message of Revelation. The Conference convening this week in the little country church in Northern California will study that message; hopefully recordings will be made.

December 27, 2006

Something special happens in the last days of earth’s history (where we are now):

A higher motivation becomes realized than has prevailed among God’s people in past ages, which is a concern for Christ that He receive His reward and find His “rest” in the final eradication of sin. All self-centered motivation based merely on fear of hell or hope of reward in heaven becomes not only less effective, but in the final test of the mark of the beast, useless. The higher motivation is symbolized in Scripture as its climax: the Bride of Christ “making herself ready” for “the marriage of the Lamb.”

This becomes the miracle of the ages. It transforms a “woman” into a loving Bride whose first concern is for her Husband. The power that performs the miracle is what the Bible calls “love,” but not a human kind of love; it’s the agape of Christ that so impacts the human heart that it “constrains” to a total dedication to the One who died for us that can be likened only to a Bridal dedication (2 Cor. 5:14, 15; Rev. 19:7, 8).

Jesus Christ is still and will be forever human as well as divine. He knows disappointment and pain; He feels the pain of this present world in distress (Isa. 63:9), and must continue to endure it until His people fulfill their “growing up” privilege. They will “come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:14; until now usually considered impossible), which is the same as Christ’s final appeal in Revelation 3, to “overcome even as [He] overcame” and “sit with [Him] in [His] throne” (vs. 20). This is no idle little honor; this is assuming with Christ the executive authority for bringing to an end the “great controversy” that has raged between Christ and Satan for these 6000+ years.

As God’s people near the end, there will be no multiple choices in devotion to Him, no second-class tickets for those who wish to enjoy the reward less the suffering with Christ that gives them intimacy with Him. Christ will not be a bigamist. His love and devotion will be to one only.

December 26, 2006

It’s not cold, ivory-tower theology for scholars: it’s down-to-earth heart-warming truth for “the common people” who always hear Jesus “gladly.”

The new covenant is God’s one-way promise to write His holy law in our sinful hearts. It’s His promise to give us everlasting salvation as a free gift “in Christ.” The old covenant, on the other hand, is the vain promise of the people to obey based on their egocentric concern. Paul had the insight to see that it “gives birth to bondage.” The spiritual failures of multitudes of sincere people are the result of being taught old covenant ideas in church, especially in childhood and youth. The new covenant truth is an essential element of the truth that must yet “lighten the earth with glory.” But even now it lifts a load of doubt and despair from many heavy hearts.

To be “under the law” is a fear motivation (Gal. 3; 4:21). The old covenant was formed at Mt. Sinai by self-sufficient Israel when they made their vain promise to do everything just right (Ex. 19:8). God did not ask them to make that promise. Peter’s promise never to deny the Lord was the same idea as Israel at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19:8; Mark 14:29-31). This little window of Israelite history has become the battleground of millennia, and recently centuries, of contention among sincere Christians.

God made seven great promises to Abraham (Gen. 12:2, 3); but did not ask him to make any promises in return (or can you find that He did?). He rejoiced in Abraham’s heart-commitment (15:5, 6), but not for any self-sufficient vain promise. The Lord’s promise was one-way: Gen. 15:9-17. The law written in stone and given 430 years later did not nullify His promise; it became our “tutor” (schoolmaster, KJV) to lead us on a long detour of centuries, back to the experience of Abraham to be “justified by faith. (Paul was the first apostle to see it clearly! Gal. 3:23-26.) Abraham became “the father of all those who believe” (Rom. 4:1, 11-13). And here’s where we come into the picture!

The dear Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message of new covenant gospel truth in the late nineteenth century; but it was never deeply appreciated. Many have been starved for it. All kinds of spiritual “bondages” have resulted corporately from a starvation for new covenant truth. Jesus addresses all levels of the leadership of the last church of Laodicea, “Be zealous therefore, and repent” (Rev. 3:19). Thus there is hope!

December 25, 2006

In seeking us, the Son of God came all the way to where we are. He took upon His sinless nature that He brought from heaven “the likeness of [our] sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” Thus He is a Savior “nigh at hand, not afar off.” He is “the Savior of all men,” even of the “chief of sinners.” But sinners have the freedom to refuse Him, and reject Him. But He couldn’t come closer to us than He has.

The Bible evidence? His name is “Immanuel, God with us” (Matt. 1:23). He was “in all things, made like His brethren” (Heb. 2:9, 14).

He was terribly tempted to do or say evil, because He was “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).

As He hung on His cross in darkness of soul, He realized how bad a person can become, for He “was made to be sin who knew no sin” 2 Cor. 5:21).

Our Sacramento Bee has frequent stories of people who have committed horrible crimes; a Judge told a recent murderer that he is so bad that the world doesn’t want him around any more. Should I as a pastor tell that man that there is no hope for him? I cannot do that! Can I draw a line and say “thus far and no further—beyond this line Christ was never tempted like you are?” The inspired Word says “in all points tempted like as we are. ...”

Could it be that the “we” as the church need to grasp more clearly the nearness of the Savior to humanity? Someday light will “lighten the earth with glory” on this point.

“As the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same” (Heb. 2:17). Jesus’ specialty is saving people; but His people have to be His agents.

Thus far in the growing understanding of people who have sought to study the message that was “the beginning” of Revelation 18:1-4, many have come to the conclusion that the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary is a distortion of the Biblical gospel, denying this reality of the nearness of the Savior. Mary gave birth to a Savior who has taken upon Himself the full genetic DNA connection that has bound the human race to the fallen Adam. And vanquished, defeated, conquered, condemned that sin in human nature! For His final test He had to go to His cross; but utterly sinless He won the victory over sin in sinful nature. Why? So we can win it too!

December 24, 2006

It’s Conventional Wisdom among many that it’s our job to initiate a “relationship” with the Lord Jesus, and then it’s our job to “maintain” it. We go to camp meeting or to revival meetings to initiate or maintain such. The basic idea seems to be that the Lord is waiting for us to hang on, and if we fall off or backslide, too bad for us. He is like a shopkeeper waiting for us to find Him. If we don’t, we’ve had it.

Yes, of course, we must hang on; but the truth is that we’re not strong enough to make a success of hanging on. The “everlasting gospel” has better Good News for us: Our salvation does not depend on our strength in holding on to the Lord, but on our believing that the Lord is holding on to us. Again, the Bible pleads, “Be ye reconciled to God.” A clearer understanding of His on-going, persistent love is needed; the Good Shepherd is not waiting for the lost sheep to find his way back.

The Lord is not like a shop-keeper waiting for us to come to where He is, popular and orthodox as that idea has long been; He is going door to door, knocking, seeking us (Rev. 3:20). He “will seek that which was lost” (Ez. 34:16). When God so loved the world that He gave so much, He took the initiative in seeking a relationship with us. We didn’t ask Him to do it! Further, now He seeks to maintain the relationship with us, “waking [us] morning by morning,” to educate us and train us (Isa. 50:4). The Father took the initiative in waking Jesus up every morning! Does He love us less? Our problem is that we so often refuse, we pull the covers over our head, or we sleep late because we are over-tired from the previous night’s TV or movie watching. We don’t respond as Jesus did (vs. 5). He tries and tries to maintain that “relationship,” but it is possible to wear out His patience; He Himself is infinite, but His patience is not. Anyone can insult the Lord and abuse Him only so long. “Behold ... the goodness and severity of God” (Rom. 11:22). It makes sense.

For each who is saved at last, it’s God who took the initiative; for each who is lost at last, it will be he who took the initiative in turning away from the pleading of the Holy Spirit.

You cannot fall into a ditch without the Holy Spirit warning you! But if you silence His voice so long, you become deaf to His pleading. Let’s learn now to recognize that voice.

December 23, 2006

The next great truth that we must study is shocking, astounding because it is so contrary to Conventional Wisdom in the churches: If we understand “the everlasting gospel” (Rev. 14:6, 7) as Good News rather than Bad, we see that it’s easy to be saved and it’s hard to be lost.

This turns us upside down! Think of the things one must give up in order to follow Jesus: liquor, cigarettes, popular drugs, dances; no shopping on the Sabbath day (the world’s biggest shopping day of the week, we miss the big sales), no Friday night sports or parties (the true Sabbath begins at sundown and extends to the next sundown); you become “peculiar.” You actually lose some worldly friends that were dear to you. Yes, there’s sacrifice involved (we think). If you’re unmarried and you imagine you’re in love with someone who is an unbeliever in Christ, you start thinking again. (If you’re married, you learn to l-o-v-e the spouse God gave you, who you thought was ornery!). You’re like an ox that pulls a heavy cart up a steep hill.

But what does the Savior say? “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you REST. (!) Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart [ah, there’s the problem: we are naturally very “macho” and self-important, male and female in our ways] and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).

Then, to make it even clearer, the same Lord Jesus tells Saul of Tarsus (and us) that it is actually “hard” to live our lives against Him: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 26:14; the “goads” were devices that pricked the ox if he held back from pulling). Saul was having a great time back-slapping all the Temple leaders in their hatred of Christ; but he was trampling on his own deeply inner conscience. The Holy Spirit was convicting him of truth buried in his heart; if he had gone on in that crazy way of living he would have come down with some life-threatening physical ill (he apparently did have some carry-over health problem thereafter, 2 Cor. 12:7).

With our sinful nature inherited from the fallen Adam, we naturally want the way of “self.” Our last great battle! But if we kneel with Jesus in Gethsemane, l-o-o-k and l-i-s-t-e-n, we hear Him cry in tearful anguish, sweating blood, “O My Father, if it is possible” don’t let Me have to endure this coming cross, the horror of this second death! “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matt. 26:39). We learn from Him what to do with that “self,” that “I.”

Now we discover why His “yoke is easy, His burden light.” He carries the weight.

December 22, 2006

By His uplifted cross and His High Priestly ministry, Christ is drawing “all men” to repentance. His love (the greatest truth in the world today) has not been understood; it is so strong and so persistent that we must resist in order to be lost.

Wow! That blows the legalists’ minds. The general idea that many have is that God stands back with His great divine arms folded: “I did My part long ago! Now it’s up to you. If you want to live forever and go to heaven, get busy and repent! Stop being bad. Start being good. You have been warned.”

The fear motivation is transcended by the agape motivation—a heart response to Christ’s pouring out of Himself in taking on His heart the full load of our guilt. It killed Him!

Admittedly, it’s a big idea for worldly minds to contemplate and receive, for it stretches the sinews of our soul. It has dimensions of “breadth, and length, and depth, and height ... which pass knowledge” (Eph. 3:18, 19). It’s such a big idea that when it is comprehended clearly by a church described as the “remnant church” (Rev. 12:17), it will capture the attention of clear-thinking people the world around. Not all, whether in Islam, or Hinduism, or Buddhism, want to be alienated from God! There is an audience waiting to hear the proclamation.

The Father actually laid the trespasses of the world on Christ (2 Cor. 5:19; Isa. 53:5, 6). Thus in a real sense, Christ’s sacrifice has “justified” “all men,” giving them a legal “verdict of acquittal” in place of that judgment of “condemnation” “in Adam” (cf. Rom. 5:15-18, KJV and NEB). When the sinner [you or I] hears the good news of the gospel about what Christ has done and our heart responds positively, a change takes place within us; we had a “carnal mind (which) is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7), but we are now reconciled to Him (5:9-11); and that change is what the Bible means by the experience of “justification by faith.” The “atonement” includes the choice to be obedient to God’s holy law.

The Father “knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust” (Psa;m 103:14); if we flee from Him, He does not give up. He persists and pursues us like a good shepherd seeking a lost sheep keeps looking “until He finds it” (Luke 15:4), or a lady who has lost a silver coin turns her house upside down “till she find it”(vss. 8, 9). That’s the dimension of His love; it reaches even to one’s death-bed. Just before we take that last breath, the Holy Spirit still tells us, “Come” (Rev. 22:17). But why not come now?

December 21, 2006

Ten days from now a special conference will assemble in a little country church in Northern California set in the trees away from the noise of traffic. Serious-minded people will study and search for an understanding of the message which will someday lighten this dark earth with the glory of the final revelation of the gospel (Rev. 18:1-4). They will study in ten sessions.

A few thousand people around the world have become convinced that the “Lord of the harvest” tried to “send” His people “the beginning” of that message well over a century ago, but they were not ready to comprehend it. In these simple mini-studies let us search:

Number One: The Lord Jesus has done something for every human being; He has died for “every man” the death which is “the wages of sin.” Thus He means business: He wants “every man” to be saved! Christ earned the right to be named “the Savior of the world.” Human hearts can be stretched outsize to appreciate what He accomplished. (But we have freedom of choice to reject what He has accomplished for us! Sadly, many do.)

The Bible evidence: “Christ tasted death for every man” (Heb. 2:9). That’s not the “death” that’s a mere sleep; He died the real thing—“the second death” (Rev. 2:11; 20:14). He “emptied Himself,” taking the seven steps in condescension for us, “even the death of the cross” which involved for Him “the curse of God” (Phil. 2:5-8; Gal. 3:13). He “poured out His soul unto [that] death,” under what was to Him the total darkness of the Father turning away His face from Him forever (Isa. 53:12; Deut. 21:22, 23; Psalm 22).

That love which Christ demonstrated at that cross is unworldly in its dimensions (Eph. 3:14-19), a love never known on earth until Heaven revealed it at the cross; it is so powerful that it “constrains” any believing heart to live “henceforth” not for self but totally for the One who died for us and rose again (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). Therefore it follows that when “Christ and Him crucified”(1 Cor. 2:1, 2) is finally “comprehended,” a people will be prepared for translation at the second coming of Jesus, for the “harvest [will be] ripe” (Eph. 3:19; Rev. 14:15). What “ripens the harvest”? The final gospel message which is the showers of “the latter rain” (cf. Joel 2:23; lit. rendering, “a teacher of righteousness”).

Christ has taken the initiative in seeking us, a shepherd seeking His lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7); He has initiated, and seeks to maintain, “a relationship” with us; our job: respond (Matt. 11:28-30). The only reason anyone can be lost at last therefore is his choice to dis-believe (John 3:14-19).

Christ has “abolished death,” the second; indeed, for everyone on earth he has “brought life,” and for those who believe, He has also brought eternal life (John 6:33; 2 Tim. 1:10). Choose that life!

Time’s up; this is a sample of Number One. Maybe tomorrow, Number Two.

December 19, 2006

Some day (oh, may it be soon!) the whole earth is to be “lightened with [the] glory” of a saving message that will cut its way through all the defenses of prejudice and confusion that have enslaved multitudes. Relatives who oppose, friends, business interests that have held people back from full obedience to the Lord, will be “powerless” to hold those whose hearts are at one with the Lord Jesus. This great message (Rev. 18:1-4) will have to be a more clear presentation of “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1, 2) for there is no other way that human hearts can be won. And the “confusion” of fallen Babylon centers primarily around the cross of Christ; long before “Babylon” changed the holy Sabbath day, Satan cast a cloud of confusion around the cross. Today the symbol hangs around people’s necks, is displayed on walls, and adorns church roofs; but the knowledge of what happened there is lacking. But Jesus says that “the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). The pure, true “gospel is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16).

Is the Lord holding the message back from going? Does He store it in some barn somewhere where we can’t know what it is? That could not be according to His character of openness and love. He is hiding nothing.

Thousands around the world have come to believe that “the Lord in His great mercy sent” the “beginning” of that message well over a century ago like you sample a tiny bit of ice cream in the shop of many flavors. God has been faithful, He has not neglected those who cry to Him for guidance. The message that came as the “beginning” was a revelation of what Christ accomplished by His sacrifice on His cross. The heart motivation to which it appealed was not terror of the seven last plagues or other evils coming on the earth; it was the motivation imposed by a heart appreciation of the love of Christ, which was so much greater than is commonly understood that it seemed like a new message. It was like showers upon dry, thirsty ground in drought.

Jesus said that “many” go in the way that leads to destruction and only a “few” find the way to “life” (Matt. 7:13, 14). Nevertheless it is still true that Christ did not die in vain. He has many around the world whose hearts are honest, who tremble at His word, who love righteousness. But fallen “Babylon” confuses them; the Lord will not come in glory the second time until the Holy Spirit shall un-confuse these dear people. He will force no one; but as it was on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit will be poured out to un-confuse people and to bring deep convictions of truth. Christ will be glorified.

For now, “take heed, watch and pray,” says Jesus; “... watch therefore” (Mark 13:33, 35). It’s possible that the Holy Spirit will make only one call in order to bring that “most precious message” to any of us. History would seem to indicate that only one such call was given to some when the message first came; when they resisted it, it never came again until they died never having really known what their hearts had been steeled against.

December 18, 2006

Millions of Christians worldwide have just been studying specially about the life of Jacob, the famous “Supplanter” who tricked his father Isaac into giving him the birthright instead of to the elder (by-a-few-minutes) Esau. You remember, so angry was Esau when he discovered what had happened, that he threatened to kill him, and Jacob fled.

The first night on his exile the disheartened man dreamed of the ladder to heaven, and the Lord Himself appeared and renewed all the new covenant promises He had made to grandfather Abraham (Gen. 12:2, 3). Then the Hebrew says that next morning Jacob “went on his journey” light hearted and light footed. That’s what believing God’s new covenant promises does for anyone!

Most commentators regard Uncle Laban’s subsequent trickstering of Jacob as payback for his own trickstering to get the birthright. The idea is that the Lord over-rules our lives into judgment for our wrongdoing; Jacob must suffer now.

But the Lord has solemnly promised at Bethel to bless him in everything! No mention of a payback. God has intended from the beginning that “the elder shall serve the younger,” just backwards from human planning (25:23). “I will not leave you,” He has promised, “until I have done that which I have spoken to you of” (28:15). In other words, Jacob is invited to claim the equivalent of the 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want, “and entitled to pray “the Lord’s Prayer,” “My Father which art in heaven,” with all its attendant blessings. Well might Jacob walk on air from now on throughout his life.

But as he grows old, he has to confess to Pharoah, “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been” (42:9). Much sorrow and disappointment shadowed his entire life. And yet God had made those wonderful promises to him at Bethel!

The only possible conclusion: Jacob didn’t always believe them with new covenant faith. The inspired prophecy from before his birth said that he should receive the birthright; that was a new covenant promise from the word go! Doubting or disbelieving it created his problems from the word go. All during his later anxieties with Laban he could have sailed through those trials with Solomon’s [once] “merry heart [that] does good like a medicine” if he had only believed (cf. Prov. 17:22)!

Surely we have come to the denouement of sacred history when we as a people should learn to believe how good is God’s good news! One thing is sure—the 144,000 will (cf. Rev. 14:1-5). And the time for rich blessings is now. And it’s time for unbelief to go.

December 17, 2006

Letters like Ephesians or Romans were not just pastoral messages to Paul’s congregations; they were evangelism. The Jews in the Diaspora had spread abroad the idea of one true God; many Gentiles were interested. Now comes Paul with a “big idea” that turns the world upside down (Acts 17:6). What lies before us soon is the final re-play of that glorious history in the “Loud Cry” yet to “lighten the earth with ... glory” (Rev. 18:1-4).

Paul’s “big idea” in Romans 5 is this: the Son of God has become the second or “last Adam” who incorporated the human race in Himself, and has undone, reversed, what the first Adam did by his fall. “Through one man [Adam] sin entered the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men. ... If by the one man’s offense [the] many [everybody] died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to [the same the] many.

“And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation [for the human race], but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification”[for the same].” But both are objective, or legal, thus “in Christ.” Otherwise, none of us could draw a breath; and justification by faith awaits our believing and thus receiving the “free gift.”

Paul’s “big idea” was a breakthrough. Major translations of Romans state that what Christ accomplished was a “gift” or “free gift,” whereas one popular rendition insists that it was only an “offer” that Christ accomplished. The difference is huge; if a mere “offer” is refused (as the vast majority of earth’s inhabitants have done about it), then the One making the offer suffers no loss in assets. If I offer you a check for $1000 and you refuse to cash it or deposit it to your account, my account suffers no loss. I have not actually given you anything! (This dismantles John 3:16: God so loved the world that He merely made an offer ... !)

No, He gave Him to hell itself, forever.

What Christ accomplished, says Paul, redeems the world; He purchased it. “You are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body ...”(1 Cor. 6:20). “Our” sin in Adam brings its “wages”—death, the real thing, the second. Christ took those “wages” in Himself, and died it, the second, that would have come to the human race had He not been “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). Thus He not only saved the human race (John 4:42); He also “tasted death for every [individual] person,” you and me (Heb. 2:9). On His cross He had planned not to be resurrected, but Heaven couldn’t let the grave hold Him forever (Acts 2:24).

When He drew His last breath He cried out “It is finished.” There was nothing more an infinite God could do; agape was finally exposed to the universe.

December 15, 2006

Can we simple, “unlearned,” ordinary people understand the apostle Paul? Maybe we’re tempted to think he’s over our heads, better not try to read him. The apostle Peter warns us—to “wrest” or distort Paul’s teachings can lead “to [our] own [soul’s] destruction” (2 Peter 3:15, 16). That doesn’t mean let’s avoid him, no! But it means spend less time in amusements and plead with the Lord for a “hunger and thirst” to understand the saving truth Paul is commissioned to bring us, for he is a “chosen vessel” (Acts 9:15). Of all the prayers we can pray, that prayer to understand truth is the one the Lord delights to answer (Prov. 1:22, 23).

Let’s look at Paul’s great Romans chapter 5; it’s not over our heads.

First, the “therefore” in verse 1 takes us back to the last verses of the previous chapter: “Jesus our Lord ... was delivered [that is, crucified] for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (who is the “our”? Everybody, obviously). “Justification” is rendered in verses 16 and 18 in the NEB as a “judicial verdict of acquittal” for “all men,” won by Christ’s sacrifice of Himself on His cross. (Anything that Christ accomplished on His cross has to be for everybody.)

That makes sense, because we know that no one of us could live another moment under the umbrella of Adam’s “condemnation” unless we were also under the umbrella of Christ’s legal or objective “verdict of acquittal” (see Matt. 5:45). Take a breath; and remember!

The “therefore” now starts packing a powerful punch: we “are being justified”! “We have peace with God” through Jesus, not merely are offered it. The “access” we “now have” is into “this grace in which we stand”(“now live,” TEV, NEB). This idea of “grace” is that it’s something everybody has been given, otherwise it’s not grace. Everybody who? “You ... weary and heavy laden” (Matt. 11:28); “whoever desires ... come” (Rev. 22:17).

Our agenda from now on: “rejoice in hope.” You can’t believe verses 1 and 2 without doing that forevermore.

Next comes what you never thought possible: “we even exult in our present sufferings” (NEB, or “tribulations”). A process has started: setbacks, disappointments, and pain turn out to be good for us, with a goal reached of never being “ashamed.” It’s amazing even to write it: you walk on air through God’s universe because genuine “love” (agape) is “poured” into your once-empty heart by the Holy Spirit. That’s the summum bonum of citizenship in God’s great universe.

“Given” us, not merely offered. Of course, you can refuse it; the dear Lord won’t force it on you. He gives; but your job is to receive. You do that by believing, appreciating.

December 13, 2006

The sine qua non of the faith of Jesus is His incarnation. He stepped down from heaven, relinquishing all the prerogatives of divinity (but not His divinity!), became a man, a descendant of the fallen Adam, came with a sinless nature but “took” on His sinless nature our sinful nature, was “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). He “condemned sin in the likeness of [our] sinful flesh”(Rom. 4:3). No “exemption” was granted Him from bearing the full weight of the conflict we have with sin; He never sinned in thought, word, or deed, yet “was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin”(2 Cor. 5:21), took upon Himself the guilt of all the sins of all the human race. So closely was with us that He felt that He was the world’s sin; from a broken heart He cried in anguish, “My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

The horror He endured was the death that God told Adam in the Garden he would suffer if he sinned, the second death, the one that ends all hope and life forever. Jesus “tasted death for every man” (Heb. 2:9) which means He died the second death of “every person” in the world. We can realize: the Son of God was incarnate but still the Son of God, and thus His death on His cross was an infinite sacrifice for us each, individually.

He is infinite; thus He knew you intimately when you were in your mother’s womb, counted all the hairs on your head; knows all the secrets of your soul, why your personality is as it is. If you were abused as a child, He knows, and still He is your Savior, your Great Physician, the Healer of your wounded soul. Your job is to let Him heal you. “As though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God”(2 Cor. 5:19).

So, don’t abide in alienation from sunshine and joy, or embrace the hell the devil wants to cast you into, or mistakenly blame God for the ill that has befallen you. Don’t join Satan’s accusations against the Lover of your soul.

The great controversy between Christ and Satan is fought in our hearts. Meanwhile, that unbounded grace is teaching us to say “No!” to these allurements of Satan, and to “live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us” (Titus 2:11-14; cf. NIV).

The Teacher will teach if we will let Him!

December 12, 2006

It was the most awful crime ever committed on planet earth, or in the universe of God. Human beings who had sold themselves to Satan did it—they captured, condemned, tortured, and murdered the divine Son of God, the world’s Messiah and Savior. It was hatred gone wild.

And while they were doing it, He was praying for them, “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.” Simply telling people around the world what happened electrified humanity and separated mankind into two peoples—those who believed with a heart appreciation for His love, and those who steeled their hearts against that love and became the most bitter persecutors of their fellow humans.

The process has been going on ever since, and will culminate in the fulfillment of Revelation 14:14-20 where we read of two “harvests” that will ripen side by side: the good grain gathered when “He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.” Then “another angel came out from the altar, ... and cried with a loud cry, Gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe,” the grapes of the “winepress of the wrath of God.”

It’s a solemn thought that we are poised between verses 13 and 14 of this chapter of prophecy; now is the hour when those who “die in the Lord” are “blessed ... from henceforth” and the coming of the moment of the literal second coming of “the Son of man” in verse 14.

But oh, the work that is yet to be done! No way will “He who [will] sit” on the cloud “thrust in [His] sickle” until the “harvest ... is ripe.” If He were to act prematurely, the harvest would be ruined; He has to wait poised, His “sickle” ready, but unused. The grain has come to the time when the plants are tall but immature, the growth hindered by drought when the “latter rain” should be falling.

Meanwhile nothing seems to stop the other “harvest” from ripening; the wickedness in the world develops, while the growth of the good grain is stultified.

The clearest evidence of the soon coming of Christ is not the number of professed adherents world-wide but the awakening of serious, honest-hearted people in the church who realize that to indulge further in corporate lukewarmness is in reality a re-crucifixion of that same Son of God. Ripening for the harvest is a choice God’s people make for or against cooperation with “the Lord of the harvest.”

December 11, 2006

We’ve had a dark, gloomy, rainy day; the very best of people have times when the soul is in gloom and tempted to fear. Even our Lord Jesus knew what it’s like to pray and to get no answer and to wonder why (see Psalm 22:1, 2). Hebrews 4:15 says that He “was in all points tempted like as we are.” But let’s note carefully: to be tempted to think that God is hard and won’t listen and answer your prayer is not of itself sin; but to give in to the temptation and do what Job’s wife tried to get him to do (“curse God, and die!”)—that’s sin (Job 2:9).

And yes, we must remember the warning that there are some prayers that God does not want to hear, for example, “He who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination ” (Prov. 28:9). That is true and it has frightened many people who have been overcome by temptation. But the transitive verb is what explains this apparently difficult text for sinners to understand: to “turn away [your] ear from hearing the law” is an act of deliberate rebellion, of despising the law of the Lord, of consciously, deliberately rejecting Him. The law of the Lord is “the law of liberty”(James 1:25); therefore to deliberately turn away one’s ear from it is to signal that he wants servitude, not “liberty,” and wants to be banished from God, and God will give him what he wants!

But that’s not you if you sincerely want deliverance from sin. The Lord Jesus assures you, “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). All Heaven is telling you to “come”: “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say ‘Come.’ And let him who thirsts come. And whoever wills, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17). We pass on the invite!

Even very long ago, the prophet said, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:32). That’s the gospel invitation, speaking of these dangerous last days when people’s hearts are “failing them for fear.” Even if you feel under a burden of guilt, you are to come just as you are. Don’t wait to try to fix yourself up first. Confess your unworthiness, your guilt, your fear. “Low at His feet lay your burden of carefulness, “ says the hymn; “high on His heart He will bear it for you. Mornings of joy give for evenings of tearfulness, Trust for your trembling, and hope for your fear.”

A dark, rainy day is just the time to re-read what make up the Lord’s New Covenant promises to Abraham, your “father” in the faith (Gen. 12:2, 3). Those promises are yours if you will let the Lord Jesus give you some faith from His supply for He gives “each one a measure (metron, Gk.) of faith” (Rom. 12:3). Then you will sing the glad song, “There is sunshine in my soul today, more glorious and bright than shines in any earthly sky.”

December 10, 2006

We turn from the Bee, Newsweek, Time, US News, the Press Enterprise—to the Bible. More particularly, to the words of Jesus. The popular media have no good news for us.

What Jesus describes doesn’t sound on the surface like good news either. It’s this: “distress of nations, with perplexity, ... men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” And yes, He goes on to say that “your redemption draweth nigh.” And that’s good news (Luke 21:26-28), but we can’t escape it, there’s a time of trouble coming first.

We face a topsy-turvy world. It’s the age of great people falling headlong; like the powerful Saddam Hussein found hiding in an underground rat-hole, then his enormous statue brought crashing down in the eyes of the world while America rejoiced; now that great nation is humbled in the dust. A pre-emptive war, the first great one that America has ever embarked on, turns sour after our initial proud “mission accomplished” boast. And again, great people are being humbled, and frankly, no one knows what to do, Democrats included. We’re in a morass, and this is just the beginning.

Still, we average people are living it high; we haven’t had taxes imposed on us to pay for this expensive war that we corporately approved, it’s been the easiest war we as a nation have ever fought, the least self-sacrificing; while we run up huge billions in debt to pay for it, at the same time we’re hugely buying luxuries on the cheap made in China.

But also, with Viet Nam this is the most discouraging war we’ve ever got ourselves into. A cartoon shows the Democrats now riding the stormy sea in the life-raft hoisting the flag “Help!” that the party in power has been doing for years.

The good news that Jesus gives us isn’t only that “our redemption draweth nigh,” as though we deserve more reward than anyone else. When Jesus says “your redemption” He means ours together with His in the triumph of His great cosmic controversy. What at first sight may look like an egocentric motivation (the popular one), on closer thought is a fellowship with Christ in His sufferings, a fellowship in bearing His cross (no crown is possible otherwise).

What we’re coming to is the growing up of God’s people, another name for the great “Day of Atonement,” the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, getting to know the Savior intimately. It’s not a time for craven fear; “perfect love [agape] casts out fear” (1 John 4:18), so the final time of trouble will be a close, fearless walking with the Savior even through the valley of the shadows.

Yes, let’s “lift up [our] heads.” With Him by our side, there’s nothing to fear.

December 8, 2006

Does the Lord love us individually, personally, singularly? There are billions of us; how can He?

Or does He love us only collectively as the human race, period?

Jesus told us to pray the “Lord’s Prayer,” which is in the first person plural—“Our Father, which art in heaven.” Is that as close as He wants me to come to Him? Or, can I pray the Lord’s Prayer as “My Father which art in heaven”?

When Jesus taught us the Lord’s Prayer He was addressing a crowd. But He frequently spoke good news to individuals, such as the father of the demon-tormented boy in Mark 9, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth” (vs. 23). The “whosoever” in John 3:16 is singular; the invitations in Revelation 22 are singular—“let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (vs. 17).

The answer is clear and firm: the Lord loves us as individuals, personally, singularly. Romans 8 assures you that if your heart cries out “Abba, Father,” that is the evidence that you have received “the spirit of adoption” (vs. 15). Even if you know that you are a sinner; the invitation is “Come.” You don’t come as crowds; you come individually, because you know He loves you individually. You have the solemn conviction that He watched your formation in the womb of your mother! You can pray to the Lord with such intimacy as if the world, even the universe, holds but you and God (Psalm 139:15, 16, 2, 3, etc.). Of course, once you believe this glorious truth, thereafter your love will overflow toward all with whom you come in contact (2 Cor. 5:14, 15).

Our beloved 23rd Psalm does not say, “The Lord is our Shepherd,” but “the Lord is my Shepherd.” Of course, He is the Shepherd of the human race, but He inspired David to write those words for your personal, individual encouragement.

Now, as an individual sinner (as we all are), you are to come to Him on these terms of faith, believing that He loves you personally, individually: “He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6).

How can He when He has these billions and billions to care for? He is infinite. And still personal! Your job is to stop asking “how” and believe His truth.

December 7, 2006

Indeed, Jesus prayed just before His crucifixion, “that [we who would follow Him] be one, as we [He and the Father] are,” “as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me”(John 17:11, 21).

Can we walk softly in seeking to understand parts of Paul’s great Romans 5? Peter said there were in Paul “some things hard to be understood,” but he is not criticizing Paul; rather he is saying that the people misconstrue what he says (2 Peter 3:16, dusnoetos, Gr.).

Romans 5:14, 15: “Adam is the figure of Him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one [the] many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto [the] many” [the article makes it mean, everybody).

There are two gifts, apparently: “the grace of God” and “the gift by grace.” We are impressed, they are “gifts.” Not “offers,” not “loans.”

And further, we are impressed with the superlatives: (1) the gifts “have abounded unto [the]many,” and (2) the “much-more-the-grace-of-God.” Apparently Paul’s idea seems to be that there is contrast all the way through. Everything that came through Adam’s fall is undone in Christ; or, better still, all that was lost in Adam is restored in Christ. The life of which we are made partakers in Christ is much stronger for righteousness than the life which we received from Adam is for unrighteousness. God does not do thing by halves. He gives “abundance of grace.” That’s why it’s easier to be saved than it is to be lost, when you take into account the meaning of agape.

Verse 16: “Not as it was by one that sinned [Adam], so is the gift: for the judgment is by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.” Through the righteousness of One, many receive life. Seems to harmonize with what Jesus said, “The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. ... Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you” (John 6:33, 34, 53). Christ did something for the unbelieving world! The very physical life of every person is the purchase of His blood. Believers or unbelievers; this is grace abounding. This grace is justification! Undeserved, but freely given. Not merely offered.

But it’s not justification by faith! That’s receiving the “gift,” believing, appropriating; and you can’t “appropriate” without obeying. The “gift” is given to all; everything that happened on the cross is equally for all. It’s given to the sinner yet he may refuse to receive it; but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t “given.” If I give you a check for $1000 but you refuse to cash it, does that lessen the fact I gave it to you, not merely offered it?

December 6, 2006

Some day yet to come those who choose to follow Jesus will be “of one accord” as were His disciples at Pentecost—oh! may that day come soon! (cf. Acts 2:1).

Then, united in their understanding of the “everlasting gospel” (Rev. 14:6, 7) they will be privileged to take up the cross on which self is crucified with Christ and will proclaim the message so clearly that the earth will be “lightened” with its glory (18:1-4).

Is there something about the message that even now we may be of “one accord” in understanding? Let’s try:

(1) “God so loved the world” (John 3:16). Not just the good people.

(2) “He gave His only begotten Son.” Not just lent Him.

(3) “That whoever  believes in Him should not perish.” There’s something about the “believes” that is vital; that may be where the dis-accord at present is hindering the whole-hearted “accord.” Is it possible that the believing is something of the heart and not just a mental affirmation like believing 2 plus 2 = 4? Romans 10:10 seems to suggest that: “For with the heart one believes to righteousness.”

(4) If so, then could it be that to believe is to “comprehend” something? “The width and length and depth and height—to know the love [agape] of Christ which passes knowledge” (Eph. 3:18, 19)? The text dares to suggest that when God’s people do “comprehend” this passes-knowledge-truth they will be ready to welcome Jesus at His second advent. (Perhaps our “Christian” dis-accord is due to not “comprehending”!)

(5) Genuine believing resolves the centuries-long conflict re faith and works: “Faith [is something] working through love” (Gal. 5:6; KJV—“faith worketh by love”). That must mean that when someone does believe, he is reconciled to God because he “receive[s] the reconciliation” (Rom. 5:11). The atonement was made long ago at Christ’s cross; but it must be “received” by personal faith. In other words, to make it simple, the true idea is not “faith and works” but “faith which works.” One can’t be reconciled to God and not at the same time be reconciled to His holy law; therefore it must follow that a true experience of “believing” is what the Bible means by justification by faith (Rom. 5:1) which makes the believer become “obedient to all the commandments of God” (cf. Rev. 12:17; 14:12). Even when “Babylon” will persecute him for his obedience (14:8-10).

(6) If that’s true, then it must follow that what we all need is to “see” something (Eph. 3:8, 9): what “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” means (1 Cor. 2:1, 2).

(7) “Seeing” that humbles proud human hearts; now what was “gain” to me [self] “I count but loss for Christ” (Phil. 3:7, 8). It’s impossible for a believer to do nothing: “the love [agape] of Christ constraineth us ... not henceforth [to] live” for self but to be devoted to the One who died our “second death” for us (Rev. 2:11; 20:14).

This is just a tiny little inquiry into the gospel; can anybody say “amen” thus far?

December 5, 2006

It was after the death of Sarah, that father Abraham became most concerned about nuptial plans of Isaac, his “son of the promise.” Isaac was a prince of a young man, doubtless the “plum” that the girls of Canaan wanted to ensnare. Abraham had an ongoing evangelistic campaign. Everywhere he went he had built an “altar,” conducted Sabbath worship services. Surrounding people were always invited. His was “the church in the wilderness” of his day, and each Sabbath worship was an evangelistic meeting. (Each Sabbath worship today should be “evangelism” at its best.)

The girls of Canaan surely tried to attract Isaac, like girls want to ensnare a prince of the royal house in England. As happens in all time, they employed their natural God-given physical attractiveness for their own self-aggrandizement. They would dress as scantily as custom might allow, and be as coquettish as they could.

And Isaac was as attemptable as anyone could be (temptation is not a sin, it’s sin only when yielded to). Abraham couldn’t forget God’s promise, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” Through him shall “all families of the earth be blessed.” Abraham saw Christ’s day and was glad (John 8:56), he understood the significance of the cross, the Mt. Moriah to which he had journeyed those weary three days was the Mt. Moriah on which Christ was later to be crucified; Isaac was too special for any Canaanite girl to understand or appreciate.

His ministry was to be a “fellowship with Christ in His sufferings,” humanity’s part in the great plan of salvation. Abraham realized that Isaac is to be the forerunner of those who are invited in Revelation 3:20 to “sit” with Christ on His throne and share with Him executive authority in bringing to a close the great controversy between Christ and Satan. How can Isaac be yoked up with some young woman who could never appreciate that exalted calling?

Nonetheless, Isaac needs a “help meet.” The working power of love is not doubled in marriage but increased ten-fold, according to Moses’ principle (Deut. 32:30). If Isaac can be patient until the Lord’s plans are unfolded, he will enjoy a delightful love in marriage that will be greater than ordinary “love”; it will be fellowship with Christ in service.

December 3, 2006

For lack of time, the lessons that millions worldwide are studying about Abraham have had to give short shrift to a most important chapter:  Genesis 24. It’s the one that presents priceless divine wisdom about love and marriage.

Eliezer acts as Abraham’s agent in traveling to Haran in Mesapotamia to find a wife for young Isaac. But we moderns ask: Why doesn’t Isaac himself go on this safari? Why can’t he himself take the initiative in choosing who is to be his bride? What lesson is there for us in this story? Are we to revert to the Hindu method of papa does the choosing?

The Bible principle of love in marriage is that the man recognizes God’s leading before he “bestows his affections” rather than after (read vss. 7, 40, 44). Yes!  Samson is an example of one who puts “she-pleaseth-me-well” before any seeking to know the leading of the Lord (Judges 14:2, 3). (Samson’s way is more popular than Isaac’s.)

But “love is a precious gift which we receive from Jesus,” says a wise writer; teens can understand this well if it is explained in the light of the love (agape) of Christ.  God will never force a woman to marry a man whom she cannot love. But the delightful truth is that the leading of the Lord is totally identical with one’s heart’s affections if this principle is recognized. God did not force Isaac to “take Rebekeh [to be] his wife” when he finally met her; the fact is that “he loved her” (Gen. 24:67). Blessed congruence: his will and God’s.

Does it work, even today? Here are the steps:

(1) There’s a firm decision not to marry an unbeliever—one made long before you meet any attractive pagan girl or boy (vs. 3).

 

(2) You watch for “the angel” of the Lord to do his guiding (vs. 7).

 

(3) Earnest prayer is more than a duty; it’s a joy (vs. 12).

 

(4) There’s an understanding of the new covenant principle of justification by faith: in His infinite love “[the Lord] has appointed” someone to be your loving spouse (vs. 14). Again, this is not Hindu bride marriage; this is the human learning to appreciate the guiding love of Christ in his/her life. “The carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7; but under the new covenant we have “received the atonement,” reconciliation with God (Rom. 5:11; 2 Cor. 5:20). We actually love His leading! Result: a life-long, happy marriage.

 

(5) Both parties are virgins (Gen 24:16; is a non-virgin beyond the leading of the Lord? No; but Psalm 51 is the way back to virgin-hood. You “walk softly” before the Lord ever after (cf. 1 Kings 21:27-29).

 

(6) The in-laws-to-be also recognize the leading of the Lord; no need for in-law trouble forever after (vs. 50). Is the girl fully in harmony with this leading of the Lord? “Peradventure” she “will not”?  (vs. 39, KJV). Neither the man nor God will force her in the least.  (The man’s job: do some wooing; her job: do some waiting.)

 

(7) Result: the happiest marriage in all the Bible (vs. 67).

December 1, 2006

The angels of heaven must look upon us with amazement: “As Iraq burns, we Americans shop.” This is the title of an editorial in the New York Times just after our holiday called Thanksgiving. Our freeways were jammed with people rushing to the malls, some opening at midnight. Columnist Bob Herbert spoke of the suffering in horrible carnage in Sadr City, Baghdad and the corresponding pleasure seeking that is virtually mass hysteria here. He sees little of any sympathy felt by the “have’s” for the “have-nots.”

If the malls offer something at a discounted price, “we” want it, whether or not we need it. The tenth of God’s commandments says, “Thou shalt not covet.”

Now, granted, there are those who need basics that make life livable; but Herbert sees as “something terribly wrong this juxtaposition of gleeful Americans with fistfuls of money storming the department store barricades and the slaughter by the thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens. ... Most Americans feel absolutely no sense of personal responsibility” for this suffering. “Most Americans are indifferent.” Students are more “concerned with what grade they made on yesterday’s test.” Says a 19-year-old sophomore,  “None of my friends really care about what’s going on in Iraq.” Says Herbert,  people “are dying anonymously and pointlessly, while the rest of us ... head off to the malls and shop.” The wisdom of the Bible says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us therewith be content” (1 Tim. 6:6-10, KJV).

Out of hundreds of Christian denominations there is one that had its beginning in a newly awakened interest in the cosmic Day of Atonement that is Bible teaching for these last days of world history (Daniel 8:14 was the spark that ignited the movement). It’s the antitypical reality that the ancient Hebrew yearly day of atonement was the one day of the year on which God commanded Israel to fast. In an antitypical sense there is present truth for today. It is:

(a) Sympathy with the poor.

(b) Sympathy with God, who must bear on His heart all the suffering in the world, and wants to bring it to an end.

(c) Awareness of the great conflict between Christ and Satan in which every one who worships God is intimately involved.

The message which this little group discovered is, “Fear God [reverence Him] and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come” (Rev. 14:6, 7). The teachings of this church (lifting up Christ and Him crucified) are the antidote to the universal disease of covetousness. It’s Elijah’s “turning hearts” (Mal. 4:5, 6). It’s reconciliation with God, “atonement,” Christ’s love (agape) for our fellow men wherever  they are. It’s a longing of heart for Him to return. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20). The Day of Atonement is forgetfulness of self, a constant sympathy for Him because of the pain that is in His heart.