By Peter Amsterdam

In the Gospels, Jesus quotes two commandments from the Old Testament. The first is from the book of Deuteronomy: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”¹ And the second is from the book of Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”²

The Jewish understanding of one’s “neighbors” was other Jewish people. As one author explains: “In Judaism, one’s neighbor was someone with similar religious thinking, not one who was opposed and hostile. … In some movements in Judaism, the exact opposite was instructed, as at Qumran, where the right to hate one’s religious foes was a given.”³

Seeing that some Jewish people had different interpretations of Scripture may help explain why, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus makes reference to a saying which isn’t found in Scripture: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven^.”4

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus expands the concept of loving one’s enemies by giving examples of ways that His followers can implement that love. He says that the love that His followers demonstrate for others is to be above and beyond the way people usually love. Jesus says: “I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you^.”5

There are some references to doing good to one’s enemies in some Old Testament teachings.⁶ While verses such as these in the Old Testament directed believers to show kindness to one’s enemies, Jesus went considerably further, instructing His followers to love and forgive them.

He also practiced what He preached, as seen by the words He spoke from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”⁷ His followers practiced this as well. Stephen, the first martyr, while being stoned to death, cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”⁸ The apostle Peter wrote, “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing^.”9

After expressing the general principle of loving one’s enemies, Jesus moved on to specifics: “Do good to those who hate you.”¹⁰ He’s calling His followers to not just love their enemies in principle or in some passive manner, but to show them love through their actions.

Jesus called His disciples to “bless those who curse you^,”¹¹ meaning those who verbally attack you with insults, scorn, or verbal abuse. It’s natural to respond in kind, but Jesus taught His disciples to break that cycle of anger and hatred by blessing those who revile them.

While at times we are right to respond to someone who is verbally attacking us, Scripture teaches us to do so wisely and lovingly. “When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat.”¹²

He also said to “pray for those who abuse you.”¹³ The KJV translates this as “them which despitefully use you,” while other translations say “those who mistreat you.” Jesus’ call for His disciples to pray for people who mistreat them represents a supernatural form of love which reflects God’s love for humanity. Of course, Jesus’ call to love and pray for those who mistreat or abuse us doesn’t mean that we should continually tolerate such mistreatment.

After telling His disciples to love their enemies, to do good to the haters, to those who curse them, and to pray for those who mistreat, insult, and threaten them, He then went on to give four illustrations of loving others in spite of actions which hurt you or result in loss. The first is “To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also^.”14 Part of love is not seeking revenge for affronts, slights, or insults. Rather than striking back, the disciple is willing to break the cycle of retaliation.

The second part of verse 29 is somewhat similar to the first: “From one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.” Again, Jesus is saying not to retaliate by seeking revenge, but rather to love one’s enemy by being willing to suffer the loss rather than retaliating.

Jesus then follows with “Give to everyone who begs from you^.”15 Other Bible translations render this as “Give to everyone who asks of you,” which seems to be a better translation. Jesus pointed out here that part of love was the readiness to help those in need without prejudice, as He states that all who ask should be helped.

The fourth illustration of love is “from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back^.”16 Here Jesus speaks to His disciples about not seeking retribution for wrongs which are done to them.

After teaching His disciples the principle of loving one’s enemies, giving examples of behavior which would put this principle into action, Jesus went on to say, “As you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.”¹⁷

There are other ancient Jewish writings which convey this concept, such as: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor for that is the whole Torah; What you hate, do to no one; None should do to his neighbor what he does not like for himself.”

While these sayings are similar to Jesus’ statement, they are expressed in the sense of avoiding unfair treatment of others that one wouldn’t wish for oneself. As one author wrote about Jesus’ expression of this concept: “It is not simply a command to avoid unfair treatment that one might not wish for oneself. Rather it is a command to give the same sensitive consideration to others that one might want others to give.”¹⁸

Jesus used three examples to show how the love He expected of His disciples was to surpass the average norms of love. With each illustration of love, He starts by asking what is so special about His disciples doing things that anyone, even sinners, would do to show love. He then challenges them to love in a greater way.

“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.”¹⁹ Jesus makes the point that most people love those who love them—that’s normal and natural behavior. But Jesus was calling His disciples to go further.

The principle Jesus put forward, however, is to love not only those who love you, but to go so far as to love those who hate you, who steal from you, who curse and mistreat you. Jesus raised the standard of love beyond the norm of this world.

“If you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.”²⁰ Again, Jesus points out that love which only does good to those who do good in return is no different from the love that most people give. Jesus is calling for love that surpasses the natural love and kindness that people have for one another, that is extraordinary.

“Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”²¹ The loving behavior He outlined is evidence that one is a child of God.

Jesus ends this segment of His teaching by telling His followers that they should emulate the Father in His mercy. “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”²²

Jesus was calling His followers to surpass the standard thinking, ethics, and actions of the Jewish people of His day and how they put limits on who were their neighbors, thus limiting who they needed to love. He calls His disciples across the ages to love in ways that are out of the ordinary; in ways that are difficult, yet greater.

The love He proclaims is the kind of love that we, who have been forgiven for our sins, are meant to live. A love that is kind, generous, merciful, sacrificial, and forgiving.

Originally published June 2018. Adapted and republished September 2020.
Read by John Laurence.

September 8, 2020

by Peter Amsterdam

Living Christianity: The Ten Commandments (You Shall Not Steal, Part 4)

Why Work?

(Points for this article were taken from Christian Ethics by Wayne Grudem1 and The Doctrine of the Christian Life by John M. Frame.2)

The previous article in this series addressed the topic of work. It showed how, before sin entered the world, God instructed Adam and Eve to work—thereby making the point that work isn’t part of fallen human nature, but rather something that is part of God’s “very good” creation.

Why did God give humans work to do? Part of being creations made in God’s image is the ability to reflect to a lesser extent His creative activity.3 When we make things, such as baking a loaf of bread, or building a shed, or working in a factory to make a car, we are creating something which didn’t exist before. Such work reflects God’s attributes in other ways as well, such as wisdom, strength, patience, and knowledge. Scripture instructs us to Be imitators of God, as beloved children.4

While all of nature manifests God’s glory, such as the plant and animal kingdoms, the creativity of human beings manifests His glory in vastly different ways. Only humans create, invent, and innovate. Animals generally don’t use intelligent thought to create or produce things that others would value. Humans’ ability to do creative work points to our being created by God in His image.

As humans, we can create value. The products which humans produce have value for us as well as others. Once someone bakes a loaf of bread, builds a house, or assembles a product, these things then have greater value than the original raw materials they were made from. When we do productive work, we add to the total value of things which exist for the benefit of humanity. This also holds true for work which doesn’t produce material things but which nevertheless adds value to humanity, such as raising a child, teaching, caring for those in need, etc.

Another important aspect of work is that it enables us to financially support ourselves. The apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Thessalonica, work with your hands … so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.5 When we are able to support ourselves and are no longer dependent on our parents or others, this gives us an inherent sense of dignity and self-respect. Work also glorifies God, as it is an imitation of His attribute of independence—He doesn’t depend on anyone or anything for His existence.

This is partly why when people are laid off from work and can’t find another job, or when they can’t work because of illness or injury, they find it so difficult. Not having productive work can bring frustration due to being unable to do what God has made human beings to do—to be engaged in productive work and thereby support themselves.

God created us with differences in skills, abilities, preferences, and desires regarding the type of work we choose to do. Because of this diversity, people specialize in different kinds of work, which results in humanity being much more productive than if each person needed to produce everything they need by themselves. Because of specialization, people can focus on doing work they are skilled at.

Work After the Fall

God gave Adam and Eve work to do in the garden when He instructed them to fill the earth and subdue it.6 However, once they sinned, He introduced changes within creation which made work more difficult. He told Adam,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”7

God’s curse on the ground meant that it would require labor on the part of humans to produce food. However, even though God introduced some unpleasantness into work, it is still possible to find joy in our labor. A number of Old Testament verses address this.

The LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.8

The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands.9

My heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.10

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?11

Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.12

Most Christians do not work full-time in church or mission work, but rather have secular jobs, often working alongside or under non-Christians. This was also the case in the early church, when Christians were a small minority who worked in a predominantly secular world. Nevertheless, the apostle Paul considered that believers were in jobs that God had called them to.

Let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.13

Whatever job a believer is working at (provided is it not illegal or immoral), that is a situation to which “God has called him,” at least for the present time. That doesn’t mean that people can’t or shouldn’t change jobs if they feel led by the Lord to do so. As Christians, we are free to follow God’s leading in taking other employment. Whatever work God has led a believer to, it is possible that He may call them to another occupation later. In such a case, a believer should feel free to follow God.

While Scripture presents work as being fundamentally good, there can be temptations to sin in the workplace. The apostle Paul warned believers to guard against these temptations. While he was referring to slaves or bondservants, the point Paul was making applies to employees as well.

Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.14

As employees, Christians should be honest, trustworthy, and do their job with integrity. They shouldn’t steal, neither material things nor by wasting time, nor should they be contentious. Believers are called to be a testimony of Christianity, an example of Jesus, so that they adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

As employees, Christians should not be lazy or careless in their work. In the book of Proverbs we read,

Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.15

Those who are lazy or careless in their work can bring about harmful results in their work or workplace. The apostle Paul wrote,

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.16

As believers, part of our Christian testimony is having the integrity to do our job properly, honestly, and with diligence.

Another temptation regarding work is working too much, becoming a workaholic. In the Old Testament, God commanded the people of Israel to refrain from work one day per week, the Sabbath day.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. … On it you shall not do any work.”17

There will be times when we are faced with intense work activity which will require long hours and a great deal of hard work for periods of time. But this should not be a regular occurrence. We should work hard at our jobs and be diligent in our work, yet we should be careful to avoid letting our work become so intense and time-consuming that it causes us to neglect our loved ones, our family responsibilities, our health, or our relationship with the Lord and His Word.

It’s important to note that while the Bible commands us to work, it also warns against trusting in ourselves and our abilities for success in our work. In the Old Testament, Moses cautioned the people of Israel when he said,

“Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”18

In the book of Psalms, we find Solomon giving a similar caution.

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.19

The prayer that Jesus taught His disciples reminds us that we are to trust God for His provision.

Give us this day our daily bread.20

Rest and Vacation

While work is an important part of life, it is also vital to regularly take time for rest and away from work. Besides taking a regular weekly day (or two) of rest, it is wise to also take some longer periods away from work. In Scripture we read that the Hebrew people celebrated the Feast of Booths, which lasted seven days,21 and that every seventh year was a Sabbath year. It seems wise that we take vacations of a week or two each year if possible. Of course, it’s not always possible to take such time off, as a variety of factors are involved, such as the amount of vacation time employers allow, individuals’ financial situations, etc. In principle, though, taking some time away from work is beneficial.

As humans made in the image of God, we reflect His creativity. As His children, we are to glorify Him in all we do, including in our work. In every aspect of our lives, we are to be imitators of God, as beloved children. Whatever our work may be, may we do it as unto Him, for His glory.

Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.22

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Note

Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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1 Wayne Grudem, Christian Ethics (Wheaton: Crossway, 2018).

2 John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008).

3 Genesis 1:26.

4 Ephesians 5:1.

5 1 Thessalonians 4:11–12.

6 Genesis 1:28.

7 Genesis 3:17–19.

8 Deuteronomy 16:15.

9 Deuteronomy 28:12.

10 Ecclesiastes 2:10.

11 Ecclesiastes 2:24–25.

12 Ecclesiastes 5:19–20.

13 1 Corinthians 7:17.

14 Titus 2:9–10.

15 Proverbs 18:9.

16 Colossians 3:23.

17 Exodus 20:8–10.

18 Deuteronomy 8:17–18.

19 Psalm 127:1.

20 Matthew 6:11.

21 Leviticus 23:34–43.

²² 1 Corinthians 10:31.

A compilation

Audio length: 10:47
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“I do not think I am in the least inferior to those ‘super-apostles.’ I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge.”—2 Corinthians 11:5–6¹

Ancient Greek culture developed a very high regard for success. Greek poets and playwrights are still celebrated today for the cultural impact they have. The Greeks founded the Olympic Games and fathered the philosophical era with great minds like that of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus and others. Other Greek thinkers established a group called “Sophists,” who trained men specifically in projecting a high-powered image of success, strength, and confidence.

It is not surprising that an obsession with exuding success and confidence crept into the early Corinthian church. Paul wrote 2 Corinthians to address attacks Corinthian believers were making on his motives and authority. They knew Paul could write weighty and forceful letters, but they complained that Paul himself was unimpressive and did not speak well. They were of the opinion that a true apostle should be confident and well spoken, perhaps even charging for their ministerial duties to show they were professionals.

They also thought an apostle should not need to suffer. It would be humiliating to go through the hurts and pains of other people, and their belief was that part of godliness should transcend suffering.

Paul’s model was not the scale of Greek culture or measuring apostleship by worldly success. Paul’s model was Jesus Christ, also rejected and persecuted. Jesus was rejected by Jewish hierarchy because He did not conform to their expectations of a Messiah. He was discredited for associating with sinners and tax collectors, but Jesus did not measure success by who His listeners were, nor the size of the crowd, power of argument, or revenue His ministry brought in. He was successful because He was obedient to His Father and reached people with the truth.

It is easy to get caught up in faulty measures of success. Churches today can focus more on offering totals and attendance tallies than on whether they are preaching the Word of God and training disciples. Many Christians were turned off when they heard of Jesus’s or Paul’s teaching on the cost of discipleship, drawn instead to a prosperity gospel that says believing in Jesus will bring abundant health, wealth, and blessings.

Paul affirms troubles and sufferings not only as part of life, but far from being disqualifications, they are actually credentials for apostleship. That is why he says, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”² Rather than being exempt from sufferings, Paul says we are equipped to go into them, and because of them, we come to know God in a much deeper way than if life was always lived on the easy plain.—Brett McBride

Intangible success

When I think about those whom I look up to and see as my role models, they’re all people—known or unknown—who have chosen lives of sacrifice and service so that others would come to know the Lord in a personal way. Sure, a lot of them don’t seem to have much tangible success, things that can be counted and measured, the material things of this world. Some of these people don’t think too much of themselves, especially when they look at their situation and they measure it against earthly standards. However, I believe they’re great in His eyes.

The Bible bears this out, as it shows clearly God’s point of view, that He sees those who have chosen lives of sacrifice and service as wise investors who have put time and effort into things that last, and are storing up riches and treasures which will never be taken away.³ These are the people that He considers great. These are also the people that I look up to—those who have sacrificed and given of themselves so that others may live.

If you are one of those people and you’ve made difficult choices for many years and you don’t feel that you have received much payback yet, I believe that you will eventually see that the payback for your investment will be far beyond your biggest expectations; if not in this life, certainly in the life to come.⁴

As the Lord’s faithful employee, you have given as unto Him. You can be sure that, even though the Lord’s blessings don’t always come in physical manifestations and can’t necessarily be counted in dollars and cents, in God’s service there is never unemployment or bankruptcy, and He takes care of His own.

God still offers the best job security, health care, and benefits that you could ever wish for. Sometimes it takes a while to receive all those benefits, and sometimes they don’t come in exactly the form you were hoping, but it helps to remember that the Lord is always good, and every man or woman who trusts in Him will be blessed. “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.”⁵—Maria Fontaine

What is a biblical definition of success? What does the Bible say about success?

The world defines success mainly by measuring the amount of wealth, power, and popularity a person obtains in this world. Worldly definitions of success are deceptive and tragic because they focus on what is fleeting and passing and ignore what is lasting and eternal. … On the contrary, the Bible defines success in terms of what is spiritual and lasting and ends in eternal life and joy.⁶ Whereas worldly success is centered on the promotion and gratification of ourselves, biblical success is centered on obedience to and glorification of God.⁷

Success is obedience to God, empowered by the Spirit of God, motivated by love for God, and directed toward the advancement of the kingdom of God. Success begins with obeying God’s command to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. … Whereas before we knew Christ we were alienated from God and without hope in the world,⁸ after we receive Christ, we are reconciled to God and desire to love Him with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength.⁹ Our old stony hard hearts are removed and replaced with hearts that are tender toward God.¹⁰ We are made new creations in Christ.¹¹ True success is about believing, loving, and obeying God. It is focusing on that which is eternal rather than on that which is temporary. It is being transformed by the work of God in our lives, minds, and hearts.¹²

As we are transformed, we are also called to share the good news of Christ with others. We are as light and salt to the world¹³ and the aroma of Christ.¹⁴ Having been reconciled to God, we are entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation—sharing the truth of salvation and life in Him with others.¹⁵ By living Christlike lives, spreading the good news of the gospel, and making disciples, we participate with God in the advancement of His kingdom.¹⁶

It should be noted that God delights to give good gifts to His children, even including material things. Jesus talked about not being anxious for physical needs in Matthew 6. He said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”¹⁷ There is nothing wrong with having worldly wealth; the error comes when we begin to value worldly things above God, when we worship the gift rather than the Giver. … It is not money or status that is the issue, but the love of those things. Focusing our hearts on God and allowing Him to do His transforming work in us are what count for true, biblical success.—From compellingtruth.org¹⁸

Published on Anchor September 2020. Read by Jerry Paladino. Music by John Listen.

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¹ NIV.

² 2 Corinthians 12:9.

³ Matthew 6:19–20.

⁴ Matthew 6:21.

⁵ Jeremiah 17:7.

⁶ Matthew 6:19–20.

⁷ Romans 13:14; Galatians 5:16; 1 Corinthians 10:31.

⁸ Ephesians 2:12.

⁹ Mark 12:28–30.

¹⁰ Ezekiel 11:19–20.

¹¹ 2 Corinthians 5:17.

¹² 2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 12:2.

¹³ Matthew 5:13–16.

¹⁴ 2 Corinthians 2:14–17.

¹⁵ 2 Corinthians 5:18–21.

¹⁶ Matthew 28:19–20.

¹⁷ Matthew 6:33.

¹⁸ https://www.compellingtruth.org/Bible-success.html.

September 7

The Reach of Almighty Grace

 It shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. (Hosea 1:10)

Sovereign grace can make strangers into sons, and the Lord here declares His purpose to deal thus with rebels and make them know what He has done. Beloved reader, the Lord has done this in my case; has He done the like for you? Then let us join hands and hearts in praising His adorable name.
Some of us were so decidedly ungodly that the Lord’s Word most truly said to our conscience and heart, “Ye are not my people.” In the house of God and in our own homes, when we read the Bible, this was the voice of God’s Spirit in our soul, “Ye are not my people.” Truly a sad, condemning voice it was. But now, in the same places, from the same ministry and Scripture, we hear a voice, which saith, “Ye are the sons of the living God.” Can we be grateful enough for this? Is it not wonderful? Does it not give us hope for others? Who is beyond the reach of almighty grace? How can we despair of any, since the Lord has wrought so marvelous a change in us? He who has kept this one great promise will keep every other; wherefore, let us go forward with songs of adoration and confidence.
( Faith Checkbook)

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

In All Things and All Times

Words from Jesus

Audio length: 10:42
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“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”—Romans 8:28¹

No person, no matter how committed to Me, is without fault. Every person ever born will make mistakes, have faults and problems, make wrong decisions, and fail at different points throughout their life. Yet even this is part of My plan, for through these things I teach and strengthen you. But though people may make mistakes, though they may fail, and though they may even cause hurt and pain to others, I make no mistake. Even when those who love Me make mistakes and even when these affect other people, I still will work all things together for your good and to further My purpose and plan.

This life is only the beginning, only the start of the great learning process, the journey to complete spiritual maturity and understanding. So when you are faced with the setbacks of life, look beyond this world and earthly life, and know that I have a greater plan, a more complete and full vision, which you can’t even begin to conceive of or understand. Even when you can’t fully comprehend and understand the workings of My Spirit in your life, trust in Me, believe in My Word, and carry on in faith, believing My promises that I know, I care, and no matter what you face, I work all things together for your good, because I love you and care for you.

My promise to you is that no matter what happens in your life, no matter what choices others around you make, I can and will perfect My plan in your life and use all things for your good, as much as you’ll let Me. As you trust Me and commit all things to Me by faith, I can take even bad situations and work them for your good.

It’s not that I “will” these bad situations in your life, as it is My ultimate will that all people would live in love and harmony. But because humankind is not perfect, and because you have the majesty of choice, which can result in selfish or hurtful choices, I gave you, My children who love Me, that promise, so that you can know that no matter what choices you or others make, I am able to cause them to bring forth good eventually.

My perfect plan

As I said to My disciples while I was on earth, “Offenses will inevitably come, but woe to that person by whom the offense comes.”² In this world there will be injustice and selfishness, and there will be pain and difficulty inflicted on innocent people. But My promise to all My children is that I have the power to turn for good any circumstance that you find yourself in.

This is one of the mysteries of My Spirit, how I have a plan so perfect that it cannot fail, and yet you have the majesty of choice and the ability to change the course of events according to your choices. But no matter what the choices of those around you, even when others make choices which are not according to My will or My laws of love and life, I am still able to use them in your life for good—as long as you love Me and trust Me.

I will never cause the mistakes of others to deprive you of My will for your life. It might be delayed, but I will have My way in your life regardless of the choices of others, if you keep the faith and don’t give up. Sometimes the good I bring in a situation may not be what you expect. It could come in the form of your having more compassion and understanding of others, more humility and a stronger faith. All of these qualities are part of the good I work in your life, sometimes through the hard road of the wrongdoing of others.

It is not that I engineer hurtful situations or circumstances, but sometimes through the mistakes, sins, or wrong decisions of others, you do suffer hurt. Nevertheless, I can turn all things to good in your life, even when you can’t initially see the good that has come out of a situation. Trust that My plan for your life is perfect, even as you live in an imperfect world.

Rejoicing at all times

This is the day that I have made. Rejoice and be glad in it. Begin the day with open hands of faith, ready to receive all that I am pouring into this brief portion of your life. Be careful not to complain about anything, even the weather, since I am the Author of your circumstances. The best way to handle unwanted situations is to thank Me for them. This act of faith frees you from resentment and frees Me to work My ways into the situation, so that good emerges from it.

To find Joy in this day, you must live within its boundaries. I knew what I was doing when I divided time into twenty-four-hour segments. I understand human frailty, and I know that you can bear the weight of only one day at a time. Do not worry about tomorrow or get stuck in the past. There is abundant Life in My Presence today.³

Trusting in all things

My promise is true and unfailing—that I do all things well, that I will perfect that which concerns you, that all things will work together for good to those who love Me and are called according to My purpose. The beauty of this promise is that every time you come to Me and commit every circumstance and situation you face into My hands, I use not only your present circumstances but also those of the past for your good. I am able to bring good out of all that has gone before, and all that happens presently, and all that will happen in the future, as long as you continue to trust Me and cast all your cares on Me.

No matter what mess you find yourself in, no matter what wrongs you’ve committed or what wrongs have been committed against you, when you’re loving Me and trusting in My will and purpose in your life, I am able to turn all things for your good—whether you fully experience this in this life or the next.

This doesn’t mean that whenever something bad happens it’s because you’re outside My will. There are many times when I allow something difficult for the purpose of teaching a lesson or to bring about a greater good, and it’s through no fault of your own. And there are other times when you bring the difficulty upon yourself through your own mistakes or choices. Other times it’s through the wrong choices of those around you.

No matter what the cause of the wrong, as you love Me and trust Me as the author and finisher of your faith, I will perfect My will in your life. The only conditions to this promise are “to those who love Me and are called according to My purpose.”

It is not for you to judge My purpose for your life. Sometimes My plan is for you to simply wait, simply trusting in patience and faith for what’s coming next. Sometimes it’s passing through the “Valley of Baca”⁴ and learning there the lessons I have for you. Sometimes it’s heeding My call to a great mission. Other times it’s forsaking what’s dear to you in order to fulfill My greater plan. Yet other times it’s humbly serving in the small place I’ve given you. But no matter what the circumstance, as you fulfill My purpose for you, I will turn all things—even seemingly bad, difficult, wrongful circumstances—for your good. This is My promise to you, and it will never fail.

If you feel that things have happened in your life that you’ve not yet seen good come out of, simply wait and trust, and you’ll see My promise fulfilled in My time. This is part of being called to My purpose—fulfilling the part I’ve given you to play in My great plan. Some things you’ll not see fulfilled immediately, but the reward of the promise will come, whether in this life or the next.

Originally published February 1998, unless otherwise noted. Adapted and republished September 2020. Read by Jerry Paladino. Music by Daniel Sozzi.

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¹ NLT.

² Matthew 18:7 CSB.

³ Sarah Young, Jesus Calling (Thomas Nelson, 2010).

⁴ Psalm 84:6.

Salvation:

John 1:12 As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

John 3:3 Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

John 10:28 I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Acts 16:31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 10:9–10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Ephesians 2:8–9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.

1 John 5:12–13 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

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

August 5Law in the Heart

The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. (Psalm 37:31)

Put the law into the heart, and the whole man is right. This is where the law should be; for then it lies, like the tables of stone in the ark, in the place appointed for it. In the head it puzzles, on the back it burdens, in the heart it upholds.

What a choice word is here used, “the law of his God”! When we know the Lord as our own God His law becomes liberty to us. God with us in covenant makes us eager to obey His will and walk in His commands. Is the precept my Father’s precept? Then I delight in it.

We are here guaranteed that obedient-hearted man shall be sustained in every step that he takes. He will do that which is right, and he shall therefore do that which is wise. Holy action is always the most prudent, though it may not at the time seem to be so, We are moving along the great highroad of God’s providence and grace when we keep to the way of His law. The Word of God has never misled a single soul yet; its plain directions to walk humbly, justly, lovingly, and in the fear of the Lord are as much words of wisdom to make our way prosperous as rules of holiness to keep our garments clean. He walks surely who walks righteously.( Faith Checkbook)

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

The Big Ben Movement

• Posted by Sally G.
• 208 views

I received a couple of forwarded WhatsApps, both in Spanish and in English, asking me to stop for one minute of prayer each evening at 9:00 p.m. The prayer is to be for the peace and the health of this world—especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the political unrest, economic crisis, and moral vacancy that plagues the planet.

They mention that this minute of silent prayer is not an original idea but was practiced in Britain during World War 2 at the encouragement of King George VI and Winston Churchill. Here is the story behind it:

Wellesley Tudor Pole was a major in the British army during the First World War. He started thinking about taking one minute of silence each day to honor the men who had died in battle.

But when the Second World War came along, and the UK’s future was looking uncertain at best, Major Pole thought the one minute per day might be better used to bring about peace. He began campaigning for a national daily minute of silence when everyone would unite their thoughts and prayers for peace. It could be one minute of praying for peace, of meditation for peace, or just a wish for peace, according to each person’s beliefs.

At first, no one really paid any attention to the Major’s unusual idea. But then the Blitz started. From September 7, 1940, London was bombed nightly and it would continue for 57 consecutive nights. The Major’s plan surely couldn’t make things any worse. So King George VI and Winston Churchill got on board.

On November 10, 1940, at 9:00, all of Britain was gathered around their radios to find out how the war was going. The announcer explained that Big Ben chiming out 9:00 would be broadcast before the news from then on. The people of Britain were asked to take that one minute during the chiming to pray for, or visualize, peace. As everyone knew they were in for another night of bombing, there probably weren’t many who didn’t participate.

The British weren’t the only ones practicing this Minute of Silence: The Commonwealth countries participated, and it was even recognized in the US by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The BBC estimated that those participating in the Silent Minute ran into the millions.¹

Apparently in the following years, the idea of a united moment of prayer has been proposed during times of upheavals and distress, though most likely never getting the official and popular support that it did during the nightly blitzes in London during WW2.

Now, once again the idea is resurfacing, and so it appeared on my cell phone. Then I saw the same proposal on Facebook, and soon I saw that I have friends that post the Lord’s Prayer, and other people seem to be praying along.

So, I decided to give it a go. But the idea of trying to be faithful every night at a certain minute is “putting the doorknob too high” for me. I know myself, and I have a hard time stopping what I am doing. My alarm goes off every night at a certain time to remind me to take my evening medicine, and seldom do I get up to attend to the task. Hopefully, I remember later. If I try to pray every night at 9:00 p.m. I know I will not last a week, but maybe there is another alternative within the realm of the Eternal Now.

There is one thing that I do every morning without fail. I walk to the end of our little road and pick up the newspaper that has been thrown inside the gate. So, for the past several weeks I have prayed the Lord’s Prayer each morning as I walk down our lane. Like Jim wrote in his July 13^th GNB article, “Give us this Day,”² I also did not have a habit of praying the “Kingdom Prayer.” But now the words seem to be speaking to me. Before I would get tripped up right at the first line, “Our Father which art in heaven” and I would improvise “…and in earth, and beside me, and within me.” Up in heaven sounded too far away.

But right now I appreciate the heavenly vantage spot of our omnipotent Creator to see and understand the situation that we are in here on this troubled planet. I started praying the Lord’s Prayer in the name of all the nations, for His kingdom to come through His children, for daily bread of the hungry, and that we can learn to forgive as we are forgiven.

I began praying to “Our Father” instead of “My Father” as I had always done. I feel a kindred spirit with all those who are calling out to Him during the pandemic and that there is power in our collective prayers. The Lord is also using this prayer to keep my heart soft for those who are suffering and to not be so wrapped up in my own inconveniences.

I thought that I could share this proposal of the daily “Silent Minute” with our GNB readers as I know that there are real prayer veterans here! Having a moment to pray a specific prayer for the peace and health of the world unites us in the giant battle being fought in the realm of the spirit. Anyone else have pandemic prayer ideas to share?

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Here is the original flyer³ from London during WW2 that explains the Silent Minute:

 

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

Dwelling in the Secret Place

By David Brandt Berg

Audio length: 8:05
Download Audio (7.4MB)

Psalm 91 is a promise to us that “he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”1 The “Most High” is God the Father, and His “secret place” is in our hearts, where we are sheltered in close, intimate fellowship with the Lord.

To “abide under the shadow of the Almighty” is to live under the shadow of God’s protection. When the children of Israel were out in the wilderness, God sent along a special cloud that covered them when they were in the desert. At night the desert gets very cold, so the Lord gave them a pillar of fire, like a cloud of fire over them at night that kept them warm.2

God gave them miraculous protection in the desert on their journey to the Promised Land. Their sojourn was much like our journey through life, and the Promised Land is like heaven, our final eternal destination.

In the story of Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan tried to illustrate a Christian’s experience of journeying through life. He wrote about the encounters of the main character (named Christian) with the giants of doubt and the lions of fear as he was traveling, and how he learned to conquer each one. Pilgrim’s Progress symbolizes the experience of Christians in this life.

We, too, have to encounter and face down lions of fear and giants of doubt, trials and troubles and tribulations along the way during our journey through life, so we can learn to overcome them. It makes us stronger and we grow in faith in the process. Otherwise we wouldn’t mature into “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”3 The Lord allows us to have all kinds of experiences to make us stronger soldiers of the cross.

The wonderful thing is that while we’re journeying through the wilderness of this world, God is with us and protecting us just as He was with the children of Israel on their way through the wilderness. We may not have a visible cloud in the daytime or a pillar of fire by night, but we certainly have His protection and are surrounded by His great cloud of witnesses.4 Praise God!

Of course, the promise that He will protect you, that you’ll abide under His shadow of protection has conditions, like all His promises. His Word tells us that you’ll abide under the shadow of the Almighty providing you dwell in the secret place of the Most High. In order to dwell in the secret place of the Most High, you’ve got to place your trust in Him. Your heart and mind need to dwell in Him.

You may have to quote scriptures to keep your mind dwelling on the Lord, because His Word says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.”5 No matter where you are, you can have perfect peace. If you keep your mind fixed on the Lord and His Word, your mind, in a sense, will be in the Lord, dwelling in His secret place.

Psalm 91 goes on to say, “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust.”6 As you abide under the shadow of the Almighty, He promises to be your refuge and fortress—your safety in times of trouble, “because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation.”7 The Lord is your refuge; He is your habitation, the place you live.

If you’re living in the Lord, you’re part of the kingdom of God, and your life is hidden in Him. If you’re living in the Lord and He’s your refuge and your habitation, you’re just as safe as if you were already in heaven, because the Lord will take care of you. That doesn’t mean you’re not going to face any problems, setbacks, or trials, but the Lord’s going to take care of you through them.

 “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”8 You might say, “A lot of bad things happen to us. How could you say that no evil will befall us?” We may face hard and trying things in life, but He won’t let anything evil befall you. And even in the trials and tribulations we face in life, His Word says that He will work all things together for our good.9

“Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him.”10 Setting your love on the Lord is loving Him, studying His Word, praying, witnessing, and loving others. It’s also about trusting in Him and His Word, that He is true and faithful.

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for”; in other words, something real that you can put your assurance in. For example, when I set this bottle of perfume down here, it’s because I believe the table’s going to hold it up; I have faith in the table to hold it up. When you sit down on a couch, you set yourself down with such faith and confidence that you just plop yourself down on the couch and you expect it to hold you up.

Before you sat down, you didn’t look at the couch and worry, “I wonder if that can hold me. I wonder if I should trust that or not. It might be broken, or I might fall through and land on the floor.” You had such faith in the couch that you never even thought about it. You know that it held you before and it’s going to hold you now, and that’s the way we should be when it comes to placing our trust in the Lord.

This reminds me of a story about a missionary who was trying to find a good translation for faith and trust, when a native came in and plopped himself down in the chair and said a word which meant, “I’m resting all my weight here.”

Why should we doubt that the Lord will come through for us? He’s always helped us before. He’s always sustained us before, even when we faced “trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger.”11 He’s always held us up before when we’ve set ourselves on Him, so why not now? It becomes automatic with us, a good habit to trust the Lord, to set ourselves down firmly on Him, and in the process we become “more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”12

 “Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him.”13 In other words, your love, your trust, and your faith are set on the Lord, and He’s going to deliver you because you love Him. “I will set him on high, because he hath known My name.” If you set your love and faith on the Lord, He’s going to set you on high. “He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.”14 There are four things He’ll do for us if we set our love on Him: He will answer us, be with us in trouble, deliver us, and honor us.

And lastly, “With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”15 He will show you His salvation and give you not only long life but life eternal.

Originally published September 1986. Adapted and republished September 2020.
Read by Jon Marc.

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1 Psalm 91:1.

2 Exodus 13:21–22.

3 Ephesians 4:13.

4 Hebrews 12:1.

5 Isaiah 26:3.

6 Psalm 91:2.

7 Psalm 91:9.

8 Psalm 91:10.

9 Romans 8:28.

10 Psalm 91:14.

11 Romans 8:35.

12 Romans 8:37.

13 Psalm 91:14.

14 Psalm 91:15.

15 Psalm 91:16.

September 1, 2020

by Peter Amsterdam

Jesus—His Life and Message: Two Unique Healings

In the Gospel of Mark, there are accounts of Jesus healing two men who were in need—one who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and another who was blind. In both instances, Jesus performed the healing using a rather unique method.

Mark 7:31–37

In the first instance Jesus was in the far north, as both Sidon and Tyre are well north of the Sea of Galilee.

He returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.¹ 

The Decapolis was an area which bordered the southeast part of the Sea of Galilee. It was known as the Decapolis because the area contained ten Greco-Roman towns.

Jesus encountered a man there who needed healing.

They brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.²

This man was unable to hear, and he was able to speak, but not correctly. Various Bible translations state that he had a speech difficulty (CSB), had an impediment in his speech (KJV), spoke with difficulty (NAS), or could hardly talk (NIV). It’s quite possible that his problem of not being able to speak had to do with his being deaf, as not hearing how words sound poses a challenge to saying those words properly.

Those who brought this man to Jesus, likely his friends or relatives, obviously cared about him and wanted him to be healed. They implored Jesus to lay His hands on him. Throughout the book of Mark, laying hands on someone referred to the act of healing.³

Taking him aside from the crowd privately, [Jesus] put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”⁴ 

In this Gospel, this is one of two times that Jesus takes someone aside privately for healing. (The second will be covered below.)

The man’s healing involved six actions: Jesus taking him aside, putting His fingers into his ears (to heal his deafness), spitting, touching the man’s tongue (to cure his speech impediment), sighing, and saying, “be opened.”⁵ The two actions which raise the most questions are the spitting and the sighing. We’re not told why Jesus spit or where He spit. Was it on the ground, on His fingers, or on the man’s tongue? The only other place where Jesus spits in this Gospel is when He spit on the eyes of a blind man when healing his blindness. Some Bible translations render this passage as after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva (NAS, NAU). Another states: Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue (NLT).

As Jesus touched the man’s tongue, He looked up to heaven and sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” His sighing is understood to be an emotional, prayer-like gesture, or a sign of deep distress that leads to prayer. Ephphatha was likely an Aramaic expression. Jesus and His disciples primarily spoke Aramaic, as it was the traditional language of Judea in the first century AD. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus used various Aramaic terms: Talitha cumi,⁶ Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani,⁷ and abba.⁸ Jesus’ command—be opened—brought healing to the deaf man, so that he was now able to hear. Along with this, his tongue was released and he spoke plainly; meaning that he was able to speak without his prior speech impediment.

Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.⁹

Two other times in this Gospel, Jesus instructed those who were healed to say nothing.¹⁰ In one of those cases, when a man was healed of leprosy, he didn’t keep it quiet. Instead, he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town.¹¹ In this particular situation, it’s not clear who Jesus is referring to when He charged them to tell no one. It could refer to those who brought the deaf man to Jesus, or it could refer to the crowd. In any case, in spite of Jesus telling those present to not tell others about the miracle, they zealously spread the news. Author Robert Stein states:

The command to silence, however, like Jesus’ desire that his whereabouts not be known (Mark 7:24), cannot be kept. Jesus cannot be hidden. His words and works cannot be concealed.¹²

They were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”¹³ 

The response to the deaf man gaining hearing and his speech impediment being healed was one of extreme astonishment. Stating that Jesus has done all things well echoes what is stated about God in the book of Genesis:

God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.¹⁴

The statement that he even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak echoes what is stated in Isaiah 35:5–6:

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.¹⁵

Mark 8:22–26

The second unique healing took place just outside of Bethsaida, the hometown of the apostles Peter, Andrew, and Philip.¹⁶ It was a small fishing village on the northeastern end of the Sea of Galilee. In the Gospel of Luke, we read of Jesus sending the twelve apostles out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.¹⁷ Once they returned, Jesus took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida.¹⁸ Apparently the town of Bethsaida ultimately was not receptive to Jesus’ message, as in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said:

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.¹⁹

The Gospel of Mark tells of a healing Jesus performed in this town.

They came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.²⁰

Here, like the deaf man in Mark 7:32, the blind man was brought to Jesus by others. Those who brought him begged that Jesus touch him, which was a request for Jesus to heal the man.

[Jesus] took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”²¹

Though the man was brought to Him by others, Jesus took the man by the hand and led him out of the town. Jesus apparently wanted to perform this miracle in private. After departing the town, He spit on the man’s eyes and put His hands on the man. Having done so, Jesus asked if he could see anything. This question and the man’s answer are unique in a healing miracle, as generally those who Jesus healed were fully restored. This healing account is also the only one within the Gospels where Jesus asks about the results of one of His miracles. The man’s response showed that the healing had begun, but was not complete.

He looked up and said, “I see men, but they look like trees, walking.”²² 

At this point the man could see, but not clearly. Upon hearing his response, Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.²³ Jesus once again placed one hand on each eye. After doing so, the man’s sight was completely restored; he was fully healed.

He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”²⁴ 

Jesus instructed the man to return to his home but to avoid going to or through Bethsaida. There is no explanation as to why Jesus advised him to not go back to the city. However, this is consistent with other statements Jesus made throughout the Gospel of Mark, in which He strictly ordered His disciples not to make Him known. These include:

He strictly charged them to tell no one about him.²⁵

As they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves.²⁶

It’s interesting to note that Jesus’ healing of the blind was unique in the history of Israel.

There are no Old Testament narratives of giving of sight to the blind. There is some evidence that some teachers in early Judaism saw the giving of sight to the blind as a more difficult miracle even than raising the dead, and one that only God or his Anointed One could perform.²⁷

Jesus’ healing of the deaf and the blind reflected the work of His Father and the promises of what was to come.

The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.²⁸

In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.²⁹

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Note

Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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General Bibliography

Bailey, Kenneth E. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008.

Biven, David. New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus. Holland: En-Gedi Resource Center, 2007.

Bock, Darrell L. Jesus According to Scripture. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002.

Bock, Darrell L. Luke Volume 1: 1:1–9:50. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1994.

Bock, Darrell L. Luke Volume 2: 9:51–24:53. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1996.

Brown, Raymond E. The Birth of the Messiah. New York: Doubleday, 1993.

Brown, Raymond E. The Death of the Messiah. 2 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1994.

Carson, D. A. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1987.

Charlesworth, James H., ed. Jesus’ Jewishness, Exploring the Place of Jesus Within Early Judaism. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1997.

Chilton, Bruce, and Craig A. Evans, eds. Authenticating the Activities of Jesus. Boston: Koninklijke Brill, 1999.

Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Updated Edition. Hendrickson Publishers, 1993.

Elwell, Walter A., ed. Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988.

Elwell, Walter A., and Robert W. Yarbrough. Encountering the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.

Evans, Craig A. World Biblical Commentary: Mark 8:27–16:20. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2000.

Evans, Craig A., and N. T. Wright. Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009.

Flusser, David. Jesus. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 1998.

Flusser, David, and R. Steven Notely. The Sage from Galilee: Rediscovering Jesus’ Genius. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.

France, R. T. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.

Gnilka, Joachim. Jesus of Nazareth: Message and History. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997.

Green, Joel B. The Gospel of Luke. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997.

Green, Joel B., and Scot McKnight, eds. Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992.

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids: InterVarsity Press, 2000.

Guelich, Robert A. World Biblical Commentary: Mark 1–8:26. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1989.

Jeremias, Joachim. The Eucharistic Words of Jesus. Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1990.

Jeremias, Joachim. Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1996.

Jeremias, Joachim. Jesus and the Message of the New Testament. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002.

Jeremias, Joachim. New Testament Theology. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1971.

Jeremias, Joachim. The Prayers of Jesus. Norwich: SCM Press, 1977.

Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of John: A Commentary, Volume 1. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003.

Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of John: A Commentary, Volume 2. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003.

Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.

Lewis, Gordon R., and Bruce A. Demarest. Integrative Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.

Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976.

Manson, T. W. The Sayings of Jesus. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1957.

Manson, T. W. The Teaching of Jesus. Cambridge: University Press, 1967.

McKnight, Scot. Sermon on the Mount. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.

Michaels, J. Ramsey. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010.

Milne, Bruce. The Message of John. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993.

Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to John. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995.

Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1992.

Morris, Leon. Luke. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1988.

Ott, Ludwig. Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma. Rockford: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1960.

Pentecost, J. Dwight. The Words & Works of Jesus Christ. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981.

Sanders, E. P. Jesus and Judaism. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985.

Sheen, Fulton J. Life of Christ. New York: Doubleday, 1958.

Spangler, Ann, and Lois Tverberg. Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.

Stassen, Glen H., and David P. Gushee. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2003.

Stein, Robert H. Jesus the Messiah. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996.

Stein, Robert H. Mark. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.

Stein, Robert H. The Method and Message of Jesus’ Teachings. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994.

Stein, Robert H. The New American Commentary: Luke. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 1992.

Stott, John R. W. The Message of the Sermon on the Mount. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1978.

Talbert, Charles H. Reading the Sermon on the Mount. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004.

Williams, J. Rodman. Renewal Theology: Systematic Theology from a Charismatic Perspective. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.

Witherington, Ben, III. The Christology of Jesus. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990.

Witherington, Ben, III. The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001.

Wood, D. R. W., I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, and D. J. Wiseman, eds. New Bible Dictionary. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996.

Wright, N. T. After You Believe. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2010.

Wright, N. T. Jesus and the Victory of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996.

Wright, N. T. Matthew for Everyone, Part 1. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004.

Wright, N. T. The Resurrection of the Son of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.

Yancey, Philip. The Jesus I Never Knew. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995.

Young, Brad H. Jesus the Jewish Theologian. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1995.

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¹ Mark 7:31.

² Mark 7:32.

³ Mark 5:23; 6:5; 8:22, 25.

⁴ Mark 7:33–34.

⁵ Stein, Mark, 360.

⁶ Mark 5:41.

⁷ Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34.

⁸ Mark 14:36.

⁹ Mark 7:36.

¹⁰ Mark 1:44–45, 5:41–43.

¹¹ Mark 1:45.

¹² Stein, Mark, 361.

¹³ Mark 7:37.

¹⁴ Genesis 1:31.

¹⁵ Isaiah 35:5–6.

¹⁶ John 1:44.

¹⁷ Luke 9:2.

¹⁸ Luke 9:10.

¹⁹ Matthew 11:21–22. Also Luke 10:13–14.

²⁰ Mark 8:22.

²¹ Mark 8:23.

²² Mark 8:24.

²³ Mark 8:25.

²⁴ Mark 8:26.

²⁵ Mark 3:12.

²⁶ Mark 9:9–10.

²⁷ Witherington, The Gospel of Mark, 239.

²⁸ Psalm 146:8.

²⁹ Isaiah 29:18–19.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

You Are of Great Worth

A compilation

Audio length: 11:05
Download Audio (10.1MB)

The Bible actually has many passages that tell us what God has to say about our worth and our value in His eyes. Genesis 1:26–27 says we are made in His image, the very image of God. Psalm 139:13–16 says we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and all the days of our lives were written in God’s book before we were ever born, confirming God’s prior knowledge and plan for our lives. Ephesians 1:4 says God chose His children before the foundations of the earth were ever formed, and in Ephesians 1:13–14 we’re told we are God’s own possession, chosen for the praise of His glory, and that we have an inheritance in heaven with Him as His children.

But notice the wording in each of the above phrases: “are made,” “are fearfully and wonderfully made,” “were written,” “God chose His children,” “we are God’s own possession,” and “we have an inheritance.” These phrases all have one thing in common: they are things done to us or for us by God. These are not things we have done for ourselves, nor have we earned or deserved them. We are, in fact, merely the recipients of “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”¹ Therefore, we can conclude that our worth is not really of the “self” at all; rather, it is worth given to us by God. We are of inestimable value to Him because of the price He paid to make us worthy—the death of His Son on the cross.

The Bible tells us that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”² In fact, we “were dead in trespasses and sins.”³ … God imputed to us His own righteousness⁴ not because we were worthy of it, but because we were unworthy, unlovable, and unable to make ourselves worthy in any way. But—and here’s the miracle—He actually loved us in spite of our condition,⁵ and because He did, we now have infinite worth.

John 1:12 tells us that to those who received Christ and believed in His name, God gave the right to become His children. First John 1:9 tells us that if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we focus on how much God loves us and the price He paid to redeem us, we’ll come to see ourselves as God sees us, and that will help us understand just how much we’re really worth as children of the most high God.

Our self-worth is too often based on what other people tell us about ourselves. The one, true authority on our self-worth is Jesus Christ, and since He gave His own life for us by dying on a cross, that should tell us just how valuable we really are.—From gotquestions.org⁶

*

A conviction that you are a [son or] daughter of God gives you a feeling of comfort in your self-worth. It means that you can find strength in the balm of Christ. It will help you meet the heartaches and challenges with faith and serenity.—James E. Faust

God’s handiwork

When the life of a follower of Jesus is lived as Jesus intended it to be, it becomes a thing of beauty. Being a Christian and having a relationship with God should be something that permeates our daily experiences, is integrated into our decisions, and brings color to our perceptions of ourselves, others, and this life.

Like a beautiful painting, a Christian’s greatest glory is often made up of countless little things. The tiny globs of color in the painting that appear to be so insignificant when viewed up close become breathtakingly beautiful when seen in their totality. In the same way, the countless expressions of God’s love shared with others in the course of a Christian’s life may at times appear to be insignificant in themselves, yet God sees them in the context of the totality of a life that glorifies Him, and He revels in their beauty.

We are God’s handiwork. As we allow Him to blend the hues of His love and mercy and develop the beauty of form that He intended for us, we become His masterpiece that will speak to the hearts of many. Let’s eagerly embrace the priceless gift of His presence in our lives. And as we cultivate the captivating beauty of God’s love in all we do and say, others will be drawn to Him through us.—Maria Fontaine

You are unique

No two leaves, no two jewels, no two stars, no two lives alike. Every life is a fresh thought from God to the world. No man in all the world can do your work as well as you. And if you do not find and enter into God’s purpose for your life, there will be something missing from the glory that would otherwise have been there. Every jewel gleams with its own radiance. Every flower distills its own fragrance. Every Christian has his own particular bit of Christ’s radiance and Christ’s fragrance which God would pass through him to others.—James McConkey

Fearfully and wonderfully made

God wove you. Like a tapestry, each of us is a complex creature.⁷ … The Psalmist correctly identifies God as the Master Worker who is the source of our origin.

This should elicit praise and thanksgiving from our hearts.⁸ We are “fearfully” (awe) and “wonderfully” (to distinguish) made. Each of us [is] unique in many ways, but also similar in many; each an original masterpiece of the Creator. Don’t deny this aspect of your identity (too many have done so). God can use your special abilities⁹; He has a purpose for you!—Jon W. Quinn

You are special

You are part of a magnificent, vast, overall plan. You can’t see that plan, but I can. You can’t see how beautifully you fit in with the overall panorama of life and the balance of the universe, but I can. Someday you will see it too, and you will marvel together with Me at how wonderfully it all came together.

You are unique. There has never been a person like you, nor will there ever be another just like you. Resist the temptation to look negatively at yourself and focus on what you think are your shortcomings, weaknesses, and inabilities, a less-than-perfect body or personality or whatever. I love you just the way you are, and I love you as though you were the only person in the world. You are special to Me.—Jesus, speaking in prophecy

Published on Anchor September 2020. Read by Reuben Ruchevsky.
Music by Michael Dooley.

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¹ Ephesians 1:3.

² Romans 5:8.

³ Ephesians 2:1.

⁴ 2 Corinthians 5:21.

⁵ John 3:16.

⁶ https://www.gotquestions.org/self-worth.html.

⁷ See Exodus 26:36.

⁸ See Psalm 139:14.

⁹ See Psalm 139:16.

August 31

Divine, Ever-Living, Unchanging

But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (1 Peter 1:25)

All human teaching and, indeed, all human beings shall pass away as the grass of the meadow; but we are here assured that the Word of the Lord is of a very different character, for it shall endure forever.

We have here a divine gospel; for what word can endure forever but that which is spoken by the eternal God?

We have here an ever-living gospel, as full of vitality as when it first came from the lips of God; as strong to convince and convert, to regenerate and console, to sustain and sanctify as ever it was in its first days of wonder-working.

We have an unchanging gospel which is not today green grass and tomorrow dry hay but always the abiding truth of the immutable Jehovah. Opinions alter, but truth certified by God can no more change than the God who uttered it.

Here, then, we have a gospel to rejoice in, a word of the Lord upon which we may lean all our weight. “For ever” includes life, death, judgment, and eternity. Glory be to God in Christ Jesus for everlasting consolation. Feed on the word today and all the days of thy life.( Faith Checkbook)

August 29, 2020

by Maria Fontaine

My 2020 Birthday Blog—Part 1

Dear Family, as each of my birthdays come around, I usually take time to pray fervently about what the Lord wants to show me about the past year and the year to come. This practice is part of my devotional life during which the Lord encourages me and motivates me and shows me how wonderful life is and how privileged I am to be able to live for Him.

These musings are normally part of my private prayer life, and they don’t usually go any further than between me, the Lord, and Peter. But this year, the Lord laid on my heart to share with you some glimpses into what He said to me.

He showed me that I should make a bigger deal of my birthday this year, since every year after the 70th one is very important, as I’ve crossed the line into the years when it seems that perhaps we are living on “borrowed time.” Of course, as we know, not everyone lives this long, but for those of us who do, we should take it pretty seriously, in my opinion.

So, here are some of my prayers and thoughts related to this birthday. I will probably have a few more posts on this topic, since there are many of these. Besides, if I’m going to celebrate this birthday all year long, I want to be sure you can join me in the celebration. I’m not just sharing this to entertain—although it might have that effect as well—but to encourage you, in case there are things in what I share that you can relate to.

Somebody asked me what I wanted for my 74th birthday (going into my 75th year of life). Since recently my eyes suddenly have gotten much sorer and I’m possibly facing a long haul over quite a few months of extensive dental work, my initial thought was to say, “Well, of course I would like to be healed.” But I changed that very quickly, realizing that it was a very natural, shallow thought, and that really, if I had to make a choice, I would not make that my first choice.

I followed it up very quickly, saying, “The Lord knows that what I want most for my birthday is to be filled more with Him and His Holy Spirit. What I want most for my birthday is more love for Him, a more giving and loving and unselfish spirit, more faith to believe that when He says He’s going to take care of everything, that He really means it. More faith to believe His promises. I want to be full of praise, helping people by my example to look up to the Lord instead of down at the problems that surround them. I want my focus to be on encouraging people to look up, to come closer to our dear Jesus, to have the peace that passes all understanding, to have the joy of the Lord, which is our strength, and to be able to pass these blessings on to others. These are some of my wishes and prayers for my birthday, July 31, 2020.”

I would, however, like to throw into the prayer mix that, God willing, I would be healed from my eye affliction and various other undiagnosed issues. But, if the things I mentioned earlier that I want the most need to be accompanied by tests and trials and weak eyes and pain and other physical difficulties, then I accept those, too, because I want the whole package. I want whatever is going to make me more like Jesus, whatever is going to help me to know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death.¹ (Or as it says in the Berean study version, “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”)

I don’t take this statement or commitment lightly. That was a verse that I learned many, many years ago when I was still a young teen, long before I joined the Family. I don’t know why I was so attracted to that verse. I hadn’t been taught much about suffering for Jesus, except by the missionaries who came to our church. But that was a verse that I wanted to memorize and that really stuck with me.

It might have been because when I was 12 years old, I read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. I marveled at those brave souls who were willing to die for Jesus. Far from frightening me, which could have very easily happened to a 12-year-old, Jesus helped me to take it in naturally, realizing that that was a part of what God had called them to and had given them the grace to bear. It was for them the suffering that, as Jesus said, would allow them to also reign with Him.

I’m certain that book must have had a great impact on me. I believe that it motivated me in spirit to follow in their footsteps. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not looking for persecution or heartbreak or suffering or being wounded or any of those things. I would much rather not have them. But if that’s what it takes for me to be like Jesus and to follow in His footsteps, that’s what I want.

I have had very little pain in my life. I’ve had painful eyes, but not the kind of pain that takes your breath away and is terribly hard to bear on a continual basis. So, I haven’t really known too much about pain, and I would rather not learn. But if that’s the way of the cross and it really does “lead home,” as the song says, I will take the way of the cross, which will lead me to my heavenly home!

You might not be familiar with the words to the song I’m referring to, which I sang many years ago in church as a child and teenager. It’s called “The Way of the Cross Leads Home” and was written by a minister’s wife named Jessie Brown Pounds, who lived from 1861–1921. The lyrics are as follows:

I must needs go home by the way of the cross,
There’s no other way but this;
I shall ne’er get sight of the gates of light,
If the way of the cross I miss.

Refrain

The way of the cross leads home,
The way of the cross leads home,
It is sweet to know as I onward go,
The way of the cross leads home.

I must needs go on in the blood sprinkled way,
The path that the Savior trod,
If I ever climb to the heights sublime,
Where the soul is at home with God.

Refrain

Then I bid farewell to the way of the world,
To walk in it never more;
For the Lord says, “Come,” and I seek my home,
Where He waits at the open door.

Refrain

Even though parts of her doctrine may have been a little different from ours, still, the concept is very powerful that we must needs go home by the way of the cross. It’s true that if we ever climb to the heights sublime where the soul is at home with God, we will needs go on in the blood-sprinkled way, the path that the Savior trod.

But we can be very sure that we do not have to do this ourselves. We don’t have to pray for difficulties in this world so we can earn our passage to heaven. Rather, if we commit ourselves to the path that the Savior trod, He will allow tests and trials that will help us eventually to come forth as gold.

In writing an article about this song, a writer said:

As I’ve meditated on the word “CROSS,” I’ve come up with an [acronym]: Christ’s Righteous Obedience Secured Salvation. For this amazing grace-filled spiritual reality, I’m incredibly grateful. Aren’t you?

In 1 Peter 2:21, the apostle reminds us, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”²

The author of this article goes on to say:

When I contemplate the Way of the Cross, some important principles come to mind that are essential to walking or journeying on this path that leads to life eternal:

1. The way of the cross is the only path to heaven. It is exclusive.
2. The way of the cross is the path of suffering. It is inevitable.
3. The way of the cross is the path of sacrifice. It is required.
4. The way of the cross is the path of submission. It is part of discipleship.
5. The way of the cross is the path of surrender. It is central to obedience.—Dr. Ryan Fraser

August 30

What Must Happen Before the Day of the Lord?

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The longer you meditate on the writings of the apostle Paul, the more clearly you see that genuine, deep spiritual experience depends on genuine, deep biblical knowledge. I mean things like faith and love and peace and joy—these precious subjective experiences of the heart—depend on the mind’s apprehension of objective biblical truth. From a biblical standpoint, studying and thinking and knowing are never ends in themselves; they always stand in the service of feeling and willing and doing. The mind is the servant of the heart. Knowledge exists for the sake of love. And all theology worth its salt produces doxology.

How Paul Deals with a Crisis of Faith

Last week we saw this principle at work. The church at Thessalonica was suffering. To help the church respond to this suffering in the most profitable way Paul says that it is the sign of God’s righteous judgment (1:5). Then to explain and support this he gives three reasons why it is righteous for God to ordain persecution as part of his own judgment:

1. It is righteous because by this suffering the Christians are being made worthy for the kingdom of God (v. 5)—it aims ultimately not at their harm but at their holiness.
2. It is righteous because those who are afflicting will become the afflicted at the Lord’s second coming (v. 6)—the evil will not always prosper.
3. It is righteous because the Christians who are being afflicted will be given rest and joy at the coming of the Lord (v. 7)—faith and patience will be vindicated and rewarded in the end.

So you can see how Paul deals with this crisis of faith: in order to supply their heart with more faith and strength and peace and love in the midst of suffering, he teaches them the objective truth about the ways of God. To help them cope in their hearts and bodies with the miseries of suffering, he imparts to their heads the meaning of suffering.

Paul’s Practical Aim in 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12

Today we see the same principle at work in 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12. Paul’s aim in all this teaching is to solve a practical emotional problem.

Verses 1–2 tell us what the problem is and what Paul is trying to accomplish:

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

So Paul’s aim here is, first, that the Thessalonians not be shaken from their senses (v. 2), that they keep their heads, we might say, that they not be thrown off balance or lose their equilibrium. He wants to help them be calm and composed and steady and clear-thinking in all the upheaval around them.

Second, his aim is that they not be “excited” in the sense of being disturbed or alarmed (v. 2). The word is used in Mark 13:7, for example, in the same kind of context: Jesus says, “And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is not yet.”

So Paul’s aim is very practical in this passage: he wants to help Christians experience peace and calm and stability and clarity of mind—Christians who don’t get all “shook up” and agitated and anxious and fretful and confused and off-balance when crises come to the world.

Paul Responds by Providing Truth

So his goal is practical. It has to do with the heart and the emotions. But now what is his approach to this goal? How will he minister to this practical need?

Verse 3 gives the answer: “Let no one deceive you in any way.” Paul is persuaded that deceit is at the root of mental and emotional disturbances. If we are shaken from our senses and lose our balance and feel alarmed and fretful and begin to act in ways unworthy of our call, it is because deceit has taken root somewhere in our minds.

So what does Paul aim, then, to do for the Thessalonians so that they won’t be shaken and alarmed? He aims to teach them a truth tailored for their specific struggle. He studies the kind of deceit that is taking root in their minds, and then he loosens the soil around it and digs it up with the spade of biblical doctrine.

Do we follow the apostle in this? Do we tend the garden of our emotions with the tools of biblical truth? When there is some alien desire or fear, do we give ourselves day and night to searching the Scriptures for that truth that God has inspired for the undeceiving of our hearts? Keep in mind that, unlike all the wisdom of men, the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of root and rock and dislodging even the deepest, unconscious deceits of our minds that yield the alien fruit of fear and desire.

“Let no one deceive you in any way!” Paul says. And then come ten verses of teaching designed to dislodge the deceit from the minds of the Thessalonians and restore the stability and calmness of their faith.

The Deceit Taking Root at Thessalonica

Before we look at this teaching, we need to find out what the deceit was that was beginning to root itself in the minds of the Thessalonians. Verse 2 tells us fairly plainly. It says that they were starting to believe that the day of the Lord had already come: “Don’t be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.”

Evidently they think that the second coming of the Lord is so near that it is as good as present. Paul responds, It doesn’t matter where this thought came from—a forged letter, a spoken sermon, a supernatural prophecy—it is wrong. The day of the Lord—the time of his glorious second coming—has not come.

Then he gives two arguments in verse 3 which he unfolds in verses 4–12. First, we know the day of the Lord hasn’t come because the rebellion, or the apostasy, must come first. And second, the man of lawlessness has to be revealed before the day of the Lord arrives: “For that day will not come, unless the rebellion [or: apostasy] comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed” (verse 3).

Then in verses 4–9 Paul describes the coming of the man of lawlessness and in verses 9–12 he describes the climax of the great apostasy.

The Pre-Tribulational View of the Second Coming

One of the questions that I want to deal with tonight is where the rapture fits in here. There is a large wing of the evangelical church today that believes the second coming of Christ is going to happen in two stages. First, Christ will come for the church; they will rise to meet him in the air, return with him to heaven for a period of seven years, and then after the great tribulation is over, return to the earth in judgment. This view of the second coming is called the “pre-tribulational” view because it says that Christ comes for the church before the tribulation.

This view has been popularized by the notes in the Scofield Reference Bible and by many Bible schools and some seminaries. It was the basis of Hal Lindsay’s Late Great Planet Earth, and has inspired songs and movies about the sudden disappearance of the Christians out of the world at the time of rapture.

One Argument for the Post-Tribulational View

Tonight I hope to take this issue up in more detail. But for now let me just show you one of several arguments from 2 Thessalonians why I cannot follow this interpretation, as much as I love and respect those who do. Why am I a post-tribulationist, that is, why do I look forward with great anticipation not to a sudden departure from the world for seven years but to a great gathering to meet the Lord in the air as he comes with his mighty angels in flaming fire to establish his earthly kingdom, giving rest to his people and judgment to his enemies?

What the Thessalonians Were Alarmed About

The saints at Thessalonica were shaken and alarmed thinking that the day of the Lord is at hand. Now for the pre-tribulationist the “Day of the Lord” is the second half of the second coming after the tribulation. It is described in verse 8: “And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming.”

This is the day of the Lord—not the quiet rapture when the saints are snatched away, but the glorious and overwhelming attack from heaven against the man of lawlessness and all evil.

Now the question arises: If the Thessalonians were overly excited and shaken, thinking that the day of the Lord had come, why didn’t Paul simply say, “You know it hasn’t come because you are still here and I’m still here and the rapture hasn’t happened yet”? Why did he say in verse 3, “You know the day of the Lord has not come because the apostasy has not come and the man of lawlessness has not been revealed”?

The Revealing of the Man of Lawlessness

All pre-tribulationists believe that the man of lawlessness will be revealed after the rapture, during the great tribulation. In fact, they say that according to verses 6–7 the restrainer, which holds back the appearance of the man of lawlessness, is the Holy Spirit in the church, so that when the church is raptured out of the world, the man of lawlessness will be released. In other words, the church will not be here, they say, when the man of lawlessness is revealed. The Thessalonian Christians will not see the appearance of the man of lawlessness according to pre-tribulational teaching.

Why then would Paul try to convince them that the day of the Lord has not come by pointing out that a man of lawlessness has not been revealed whom they were never to see anyway? If Paul believed in a pre-tribulational rapture, all he had to say was: the day of the Lord can’t have come yet because we are all still here. Instead what he does say is exactly what you would expect him to say if he believed in a single post-tribulational coming of the Lord. He says that the day of the Lord can’t be here yet because the apostasy and man of lawlessness who appears during the tribulation haven’t appeared to us yet.

And then Paul goes on to lay out for them a description of the man of lawlessness in verses 4–9. And the most natural assumption is that he does this because he wants Christians to be able to recognize him when he appears. The point of this passage is not that Christians have gone to heaven before the man of lawlessness appears, but that Christians should recognize him when he comes.

Recognizing the Man of Lawlessness

My own conviction is that I would dishonor the Word of God and do you a great disservice if I did not equip you as best I can from this text to recognize the man of lawlessness should he appear in your life-time.

1. First, from verse 3, simply notice his name, the “man of lawlessness.” We may infer from this that he is an individual person and that he embodies the spirit of rebellion against God’s law—lawlessness.
2. Second, from the end of verse 3, notice that he is a “son of perdition”: just as surely as his character is lawless, his destiny is destruction. Perdition clings to his very nature. Let us hear in this an earnest warning to guard ourselves from rebellion against God’s law, because it leads to perdition (cf. 1:9)
3. Third, from verse 4, the man of lawlessness will oppose God and all objects of worship except himself. He will exalt himself, Paul says, and put himself forward as God. And as a means to that end it says he takes his seat in the temple of God, which may mean the church, since Paul calls the church the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21)—that is, he may become some kind of world-church leader. Or the temple here may refer to the temple in Jerusalem.
4. Fourth, from verses 6–7, the man of lawlessness is now being restrained until his appointed time. He is not in control; God is. His time is appointed and will be very short. Who or what the restrainer is no one knows for sure today, but ultimately it is the power of God that sets the times and seasons for the last days (Acts 1:7).
5. Fifth, from verse 8, soon after he appears “the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming.” One word, one puff of air, from the mouth of Jesus and the man of lawlessness will be destroyed. That is meant for our great encouragement. His doom is sure.
6. Sixth, from verse 9, the man of lawlessness is not Satan, but comes in the energy and power of Satan with supernatural signs and wonders. This is a warning not to make signs and wonders the ground of your faith or the criterion of truth. All these signs and wonders are counterfeit not because they aren’t miraculous—they have satanic power—but because they don’t point to truth. They lie. They are no more to be trusted than the spirit of prophecy in verse 2 that said the day of the Lord had come.

So Paul’s first tool of truth for digging up the roots of deceit in the minds of the Thessalonians is the teaching that before the day of the Lord comes, the man of lawlessness must come first. The Thessalonians should regain their composure: the end is not yet, and when it comes, victory will belong to the Lord. (See Daniel 7:8, 20f.; 8:4, 11f.; 11:31–40 for the OT background for this man of lawlessness.)

How the Apostasy Will Come to a Climax

Then in verses 9–12 Paul describes how the apostasy will come to a climax. Remember, he had said in verse 3 that the day of the Lord will not come until the apostasy comes first. Apostasy means a falling away from the truth by those who once held it.

Paul is probably reaffirming what Jesus taught about the end time when he said in Matthew 24:10–13,

And then many will fall away [skandalisthesontai], and betray one another, and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness is multiplied, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved.

Notice the links here: Paul said in verse 7 that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, and Jesus said that lawlessness (same word) will be multiplied. Paul said in verse 3 that there will be a great apostasy, and Jesus said that the love of many will grow cold, but that those who endure to the end (i.e., who don’t commit apostasy) will be saved. So Paul is right in line with Jesus here.

The apostasy comes to a crushing climax in verses 9–12 with an incredibly heavy force of delusion and deceit. According to verse 10 the signs and wonders of the man of lawlessness deceive those who are perishing. Why? Why are they so vulnerable? Why do many professing Christians leave the truth and follow falsehood?

Knowing the Truth and Loving the Truth

Paul’s answer at the end of verse 10 is that they refuse to love the truth (literally: they did not welcome a love for the truth). Notice: it is not merely an issue of knowing or believing in a merely mental sense: it is an issue of loving.

Look at verse 12: “ . . . so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” The opposite of believing the truth is delighting in evil.

And this means that saving faith—faith that will endure to the end through the affliction now and through the apostasy to come—is not merely an accepting of truth but a loving of truth. Verse 10: “They perish because they refused to love the truth.”

We can be sure that when the man of lawlessness comes, his signs and wonders will be used to support claims that appeal to our natural desires. Therefore the only defense against this appeal will be a deeper desire for God. If Christ is our portion and our treasure, if he satisfies our longings, and if we love the glory of his gospel, then the mystery of lawlessness will not overcome us, and our love will not grow cold and we will endure to the end and be saved. May the Lord grant us all to receive the love of the truth. Amen.

August 29

Plentiful Refreshment

Their soul shall be as a watered garden. (Jeremiah 31:12)

Oh, to have one’s soul under heavenly cultivation; no longer a wilderness but a garden of the Lord! Enclosed from the waste, walled around by grace, planted by instruction, visited by love, weeded by heavenly discipline, and guarded by divine power, one’s favored soul is prepared to yield fruit unto the Lord.

But a garden may become parched for want of water, and then all its herbs decline and are ready to die. O my soul, how soon would this be the case were the Lord to leave thee! In the East, a garden without water soon ceases to be a garden at all: nothing can come to perfection, grow, or even live. When irrigation is kept up, the result is charming. Oh, to have one’s soul watered by the Holy Spirit uniformly—every part of the garden having its own stream; plentifully—a sufficient refreshment coming to every tree and herb, however thirsty by nature it may be; continually—each hour bringing not only its heat, but its refreshment; wisely—each plant receiving just what it needs. In a garden you can see by the verdure where the water flows, and you can soon perceive when the Spirit of God comes.O Lord, water me this day and cause me to yield Thee a full reward for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

August 28, 2020

https://youtu.be/FZimOSrRJN0

AUGUST 27, 2020

What a Friend We Have!

A compilation

Audio length: 8:43
Download Audio (7.9MB)

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
—Joseph Scriven

*

“There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother,” the Bible tells us.¹ That friend is Jesus, who also promises, “I am with you always”² and “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”³ His presence can fill the aching void within that we all sometimes feel, no matter how many close companions we may have on life’s journey. We need to learn to let Jesus fill that void.

One way to learn to let Jesus fill every void in our life is to meditate on His Word. For example, take some time to sit quietly and focus on this promise: “My Presence will go with you.”⁴ Think back to before your day even started. Jesus was with you as you slept, watching over you. Morning came, and just as sure as the sun rose, He was there. When you thought about the day ahead, He was there, as you sought His help in planning and carrying out that plan. On your way to work, He was right beside you. Every time you encountered a problem, His presence was with you to help you to find solutions. When you heard some good news, He was happy along with you. When the day took a difficult turn, He was there to comfort you. As you read this, He is beside you.

Tomorrow, as you go through your day, think of Jesus as your constant companion. As you become more aware of Him being right there with you, you will find comfort and companionship that will help to relieve loneliness and fill those blank spots like no one or nothing else can.—Marge Banks

*

Socrates once said, “Friend? There is no friend.” But Socrates didn’t know about the one whom the Bible describes as “a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”⁵ Of course, I am speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the greatest friend that any of us ever will have. To say “Jesus is my best friend” almost sounds like a cliché, but when you think about it, it really is true. You can have a close friendship with God.

Clearly Jesus Christ has offered His friendship to all of humanity. The question is, how many of us really want to be friends with God? He cannot be our friend if we don’t respond to His offer. I can’t decide to become someone’s best friend unless he wants to reciprocate and be my friend as well. I can’t just choose him. He has to choose me in return, and thus a relationship begins to develop.

Jesus offers the hand of friendship to us. He wants to be our friend. Jesus was called “the friend of sinners” because He would actually sit down and have a conversation with a prostitute or a tax collector or even a Samaritan woman. He extended His friendship to anyone who wanted it. Of course, He ultimately proved the legitimacy of His offer by laying down His life for us. The Bible says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”⁶—Greg Laurie⁷

*

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Oh! To be able to say ‘Christ is my friend’ is one of the sweetest things in the world.” While Jesus was mocked for being a friend of sinners,⁸ those who have been rescued from sin through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross know the sweet taste of singing the words, “Jesus! What a friend for sinners!”

Though our earthly friends may fail us and earthly foes assail us, Jesus stands by us, our perfect friend. His love for us is unconditional; it’s not based on who we are and what we’ve done. His love is not fickle or temporary. He doesn’t make promises and then fail to keep them. He won’t turn on us and reject us. Jesus’ love for us is eternal, extending all the way back in eternity past, before time even began.⁹ And nothing can separate us from his love.¹⁰ Even now, he is at work for us, interceding before the Father on our behalf: “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”¹¹

As our friend, Jesus not only wants the best for us, but he knows what is best for us. … He comforts us, guides us, hears our every cry, knows what we need even before we do, and works in us at all times, transforming us into his own righteous image.

He is the friend we never had, the friend we never deserved, the one friend we all need—our perfect friend …

Jesus is our first friend, creating and shaping our friendships with others. We love out of the overflow of his love for us. Jesus is also our perfect friend, the one who loves at all times. When friends fail us and let us down, we can continue to love them because we know we have been loved with a perfect and unfailing love. Because—as the old hymn says—Jesus is with us to the end.—Christina Fox¹²

Published on Anchor August 2020. Read by Simon Peterson.
Music from “Hymns on Piano: Hymns of Worship Vol. 1.”

---

¹ Proverbs 18:24.

² Matthew 28:20.

³ Hebrews 13:5.

⁴ Exodus 33:14.

⁵ Proverbs 18:24.

⁶ John 15:13.

⁷ https://www.oneplace.com/ministries/a-new-beginning/read/articles/how-to-be-gods-friend-8682.html.

⁸ Luke 7:34.

⁹ Ephesians 1:4–5.

¹⁰ Romans 8:38–39.

¹¹ Hebrews 7:25.

¹² https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-friend-we-all-need.

AUGUST 27, 2020

What a Friend We Have!

A compilation

Audio length: 8:43
Download Audio (7.9MB)

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
—Joseph Scriven

*

“There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother,” the Bible tells us.¹ That friend is Jesus, who also promises, “I am with you always”² and “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”³ His presence can fill the aching void within that we all sometimes feel, no matter how many close companions we may have on life’s journey. We need to learn to let Jesus fill that void.

One way to learn to let Jesus fill every void in our life is to meditate on His Word. For example, take some time to sit quietly and focus on this promise: “My Presence will go with you.”⁴ Think back to before your day even started. Jesus was with you as you slept, watching over you. Morning came, and just as sure as the sun rose, He was there. When you thought about the day ahead, He was there, as you sought His help in planning and carrying out that plan. On your way to work, He was right beside you. Every time you encountered a problem, His presence was with you to help you to find solutions. When you heard some good news, He was happy along with you. When the day took a difficult turn, He was there to comfort you. As you read this, He is beside you.

Tomorrow, as you go through your day, think of Jesus as your constant companion. As you become more aware of Him being right there with you, you will find comfort and companionship that will help to relieve loneliness and fill those blank spots like no one or nothing else can.—Marge Banks

*

Socrates once said, “Friend? There is no friend.” But Socrates didn’t know about the one whom the Bible describes as “a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”⁵ Of course, I am speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the greatest friend that any of us ever will have. To say “Jesus is my best friend” almost sounds like a cliché, but when you think about it, it really is true. You can have a close friendship with God.

Clearly Jesus Christ has offered His friendship to all of humanity. The question is, how many of us really want to be friends with God? He cannot be our friend if we don’t respond to His offer. I can’t decide to become someone’s best friend unless he wants to reciprocate and be my friend as well. I can’t just choose him. He has to choose me in return, and thus a relationship begins to develop.

Jesus offers the hand of friendship to us. He wants to be our friend. Jesus was called “the friend of sinners” because He would actually sit down and have a conversation with a prostitute or a tax collector or even a Samaritan woman. He extended His friendship to anyone who wanted it. Of course, He ultimately proved the legitimacy of His offer by laying down His life for us. The Bible says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”⁶—Greg Laurie⁷

*

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Oh! To be able to say ‘Christ is my friend’ is one of the sweetest things in the world.” While Jesus was mocked for being a friend of sinners,⁸ those who have been rescued from sin through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross know the sweet taste of singing the words, “Jesus! What a friend for sinners!”

Though our earthly friends may fail us and earthly foes assail us, Jesus stands by us, our perfect friend. His love for us is unconditional; it’s not based on who we are and what we’ve done. His love is not fickle or temporary. He doesn’t make promises and then fail to keep them. He won’t turn on us and reject us. Jesus’ love for us is eternal, extending all the way back in eternity past, before time even began.⁹ And nothing can separate us from his love.¹⁰ Even now, he is at work for us, interceding before the Father on our behalf: “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”¹¹

As our friend, Jesus not only wants the best for us, but he knows what is best for us. … He comforts us, guides us, hears our every cry, knows what we need even before we do, and works in us at all times, transforming us into his own righteous image.

He is the friend we never had, the friend we never deserved, the one friend we all need—our perfect friend …

Jesus is our first friend, creating and shaping our friendships with others. We love out of the overflow of his love for us. Jesus is also our perfect friend, the one who loves at all times. When friends fail us and let us down, we can continue to love them because we know we have been loved with a perfect and unfailing love. Because—as the old hymn says—Jesus is with us to the end.—Christina Fox¹²

Published on Anchor August 2020. Read by Simon Peterson.
Music from “Hymns on Piano: Hymns of Worship Vol. 1.”

---

¹ Proverbs 18:24.

² Matthew 28:20.

³ Hebrews 13:5.

⁴ Exodus 33:14.

⁵ Proverbs 18:24.

⁶ John 15:13.

⁷ https://www.oneplace.com/ministries/a-new-beginning/read/articles/how-to-be-gods-friend-8682.html.

⁸ Luke 7:34.

⁹ Ephesians 1:4–5.

¹⁰ Romans 8:38–39.

¹¹ Hebrews 7:25.

¹² https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-friend-we-all-need.

AUGUST 26, 2020

The Musical Woods

By Curtis Peter van Gorder

It is called the most human of instruments because it has the noble mission of expressing our deepest emotions. It sings in its deep haunting resonance to touch our soul. Often in the most moving part of a film, a violin or cello will play to emphasize the emotion being felt. As the famous violinist Joshua Bell said, “When you play a violin piece, you are a storyteller.”

What makes these instruments so special? Much study has been done over the last 300 years since the golden days of violin making by the likes of Stradivari. Violins have been x-rayed, analyzed, and measured in a hundred different ways, yet the mystery lingers. Some things defy measurement.

High in the Italian Alps there is a forest called the Musical Woods (Il Bosco Che Suona).¹ This is where great violins are born. The best trees endure a rugged climate. Lorenzo Pellegrini is a forest ranger, or a forest gardener, as he calls himself, who passionately tells us how violin trees should grow, “Slowly, slowly, slowly! Up in these mountains, they grow so slowly sometimes they stop growing altogether. They just gather strength. There are trees up here that are a thousand years old. Can you believe that? And there should not be too much water. The tree’s heart should stay dry. That gives the best wood. Solid. Enormous resonance!” he exclaims.

We should remember this when we are going through dry seasons or the Valley of Baca (weeping), as the psalmist calls it. The Master Luthier² may be preparing us to become an instrument that will beautifully resonate and will move a listener to tears of joy.

The psalmist uses the Valley of Baca symbolically to illustrate a difficult and sorrowful path in life. The name of the valley indicates a dry, arid region since this is where these types of weeping trees (dripping resin) tend to grow. As people traveled to Jerusalem to worship, they would pass through this weary, “weeping” place, but their journey was worth it in the end:

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.”³

In the same way, those who experience sorrow in this life—and who doesn’t?—can find strength in their faith in God. With the Lord held in His rightful place, we can find that the Valley of Baca becomes a very different place. The journey of a faithful Christian through times of hardship is a step-by-step expedition “from strength to strength.”—From gotquestions.org

The perfect tree is selected for its tonal quality by people who specialize in this task. People like Marcello Mazzucchi, a retired forest ranger who calls himself “a tree listener,” and who says, “I observe, I touch them, sometimes I even hug them. Look carefully and they’ll tell you their life story, their traumas, their joys, everything. Such humble creatures.” Those with too many branches or which have flaws he ignores. At last he finds one that seems perfect, “Look, it shoots up perfectly straight. It’s very cylindrical. No branches at the bottom. If you ask me, there’s a violin trapped inside.”

Mazzucchi takes out a borer, which is a manual drill, and twists it like a corkscrew through the bark. He listens carefully to the knocking sound the borer makes each time it hits a new tree ring. He pulls out a core sample, and after examining it carefully declares, “Magnifico!”

Jesus says that we have not chosen Him, but He has chosen us.⁴ But unlike the perfect violin tree, Jesus doesn’t pick people because they are good or perfect. If we look back on Bible heroes like Noah and Abraham, or the twelve disciples, we find that, just like us, they are full of flaws. It must be that the Lord works to perfect that which concerns Him.⁵ He must see the potential in each one of us and something “magnifico” that we sometimes don’t realize.

Before cutting, Mazzucchi makes sure that there are tiny spruce saplings growing nearby for the next generation of violins. “I’ve felled one million trees in my career,” Mazzucchi says. “But in their place, 100 million more have grown up.”

Removing an adult tree will let more sun in and help the babies mature. “As soon as a tree falls down, those who were born and suffering in the shadows can start to grow more quickly,” the head of the forest service says. And some will be destined to become musical instruments to be played by a maestro centuries from now. The tree dies, but lives on in its new form.

This is the way of luthiers. They have a vision for the future. Like these keepers of the forest, we too should be looking to our legacy and the next generations that will come after us. At just the right day when all the conditions are optimal, the tree is cut into slabs and is put out to dry and then … wait for ten years or more before it is shaped into the wonder we call a violin.⁶

The next time you hear the haunting refrain of a violin, remember all that went into it. In like manner, perhaps you are a work in progress and what you are going through now is just preparation for that magical moment when the curtain opens and the Master lays His bow upon your strings for you to sing your story.

---

¹ Short documentary on these woods: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rXrCcYANv0.

² A luthier is a craft person who builds and repairs string instruments that have a neck and sound box.

³ Psalm 84:5–7 ESV.

⁴ See John 15:16.

⁵ Psalm 138:8.

⁶ The drying or seasoning time for a piece of violin wood is generally ten years or more, depending on its size and thickness. Fifty-year-old wood is even better (http://www.gussetviolins.com/wood.htm).

August 26He of Tender Conscience

I will judge between cattle and cattle. (Ezekiel 34:22)

Some are fat and flourishing, and therefore they are unkind to the feeble. This is a grievous sin and causes much sorrow. Those thrustings with side and with shoulder, those pushings of the diseased with the horn, are a sad means of offense in the assemblies of professing believers. The Lord takes note of these proud and unkind deeds, and He is greatly angered by them, for He loves the weak.

Is the reader one of the despised? Is he a mourner in Zion and a marked man because of his tender conscience? Do his brethren judge him harshly? Let him not resent their conduct; above all let him not push and thrust in return. Let him leave the matter in the Lord’s hands. He is the Judge. Why should we wish to intrude upon His office? He will decide much more righteously than we can. His time for judgment is the best, and we need not be in a hurry to hasten it on. Let the hard-hearted oppressor tremble. Even though he may ride roughshod over others with impunity for the present, all his proud speeches are noted, and for every one of them account must be given before the bar of the great Judge.

Patience, my soul! Patience! The Lord knoweth thy grief. Thy Jesus hath pity upon thee!

 

AUGUST 25, 2020

Life Is a Journey, an Adventure!

A compilation

Audio length: 8:44
Download Audio (8MB)

When you start praying for God to use you, the adventure begins!—Joe Clark

*

You are on an adventurous trail with Me. This is not an easy time, but it is nonetheless good—full of blessings as well as struggles. Be open to learning all that I want to teach you as you journey through challenging terrain. And be willing to let go of familiar comforts so you can say a hearty “Yes!” to this adventure.

I will give you everything you need to cope with the challenges you face. Don’t waste energy projecting yourself into the future—trying to walk through those “not yet” times in your mind. This is a form of unbelief. I have unlimited resources to provide what you need, including a vast army of Angels at My beck and call.

Pray continually as you make decisions about this journey. I can help you make wise choices because I know everything—including what lies ahead on your path. Your mind makes various plans about your way, but I am the one who directs your steps and makes them sure.—Jesus¹

*

To fall in love with God is the greatest of romances, to seek Him the greatest adventure, to find Him the greatest human achievement.—Saint Augustine

*

Connecting with Jesus and getting to know Him in a personal and intimate way has become my soul’s daily priority. I’ve experienced a desperate “panting” after God’s Spirit day by day in an attempt to touch Him and experience His loving closeness in my life, and knowing that this presence is with me throughout the day. I’d like to say that finding “what works” has been and continues to be an adventure that excites me and motivates me to reach for His Word every morning in an effort to enter into His presence and to do those things that are pleasing in His sight.—Philip

*

Spiritual journey is a phrase used by many different religions to mean the natural progression of a person as they grow in understanding of God, the world, and himself. It is an intentional lifestyle of growing deeper in knowledge and wisdom. But what is meant by a spiritual journey toward Christlikeness is vastly different from a journey toward some kind of “spirituality” that does not include, and is not based upon, the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ …

At the heart of the spiritual journey is the understanding that it is a journey. None of us are perfect. Once we become believers, we are not expected to achieve instant spiritual maturity. Rather, the Christian life is a process involving both our attention² and God’s work in us.³ And it has more to do with opportunity and intentionality than with age.⁴ Author John Bunyan, in his book The Pilgrim’s Progress, pictured the spiritual journey as a road full of trials, dangers, and blessings, starting with the cross and ending at the Celestial City …

A journey filled with studying the Bible, obedience to what it says, and trusting God is a lifelong adventure that will bring true understanding of the world and a deep love for its Creator.—From gotquestions.org⁵

*

The greatest thing you can do with your life is to live to the hilt the adventurous assignment God has given you. … Embrace your assignment, this great adventure chosen for you, and press it to the limit.—Jon Bloom

*

I won’t promise the adventure of life will be easy, but I do promise to be with you through the challenges and strengthening experiences that it will bring.

I am your Good Shepherd, and you will not lack for anything that is within My will to give you.

I will bring you to green pastures and restore your spirit every time it is weary and tired, and let you rest beside still and peaceful waters.

I will lead you in the paths of My righteousness, with My truth and promises by your side—because you need to be strong and able in Me.

Even if you walk through dark valleys, or face the possibilities of danger to your body or spirit, or endure deep and trying experiences, I will give you the power to not fear; I will grant you the ability to rise above those circumstances.

I will be with you through everything—the hard times and the happy times. I will instruct and guide you and comfort you in times of trial.

My goodness, mercy, love and strength will follow you everywhere! You will dwell in My house forever—first My spiritual house on earth, and then forever with Me in heaven.⁶—Jesus

Published on Anchor August 2020. Read by Reuben Ruchevsky.
Music by John Listen.

---

¹ Sarah Young, Jesus Today (Thomas Nelson, 2012).

² 2 Corinthians 7:1.

³ Philippians 1:6.

⁴ 1 Timothy 4:12.

⁵ https://www.gotquestions.org/spiritual-journey.html.

⁶ See Psalm 23.

August 24

God Above Human Philosophy

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. (1 Corinthians 1:19)

This verse is a threatening so far as the worldly wise are concerned, but to the simple believer it is a promise. The professedly learned are forever trying to bring to nothing the faith of the humble believer, but they fail in their attempts. Their arguments break down, their theories fall under their own weight, their deep-laid plots discover themselves before their purpose is accomplished. The old gospel is not extinct yet, nor will it be while the Lord liveth. If it could have been exterminated, it would have perished from off the earth long ago.
We cannot destroy the wisdom of the wise, nor need we attempt it, for the work is in far better hands. The Lord Himself says, “I will,” and He never resolves in vain. Twice does He in this verse declare His purpose, and we may rest assured that He will not turn aside from it.
What clean work the Lord makes of philosophy and “modern thought” when He puts His hand to it! He brings the fine appearance down to nothing; He utterly destroys the wood, hay, and stubble. It is written that so it shall be, and so shall it be. Lord, make short work of it. Amen, and amen. ( Faith Checkbook)

 

August 22

Wrath to God’s Glory

Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. (Psalm 76:10)

Wicked men will be wrathful. Their anger we must endure as the badge of our calling, the token of our separation from them: if we were of the world, the world would love its own. Our comfort is that the wrath of man shall be made to redound to the glory of God. When in their wrath the wicked crucified the Son of God they were unwittingly fulfilling the divine purpose, and in a thousand cases the willfulness of the ungodly is doing the same. They think themselves free, but like convicts in chains they are unconsciously working out the decrees of the Almighty.

The devices of the wicked are overruled for their defeat. They act in a suicidal way and baffle their own plottings. Nothing will come of their wrath which can do us real harm. When they burned the martyrs, the smoke which blew from the stake sickened men of popery more than anything else.

Meanwhile, the Lord has a muzzle and a chain for bears. He restrains the more furious wrath of the enemy. He is like a miller who holds back the mass of the water in the stream, and what He does allow to flow He uses for the turning of His wheel. Let us not sigh, but sing. All is well, however hard the wind blows.

August 18, 2020

by Peter Amsterdam

More Like Jesus: Reflections on Forgiveness

Forgiveness is at the heart of Christianity. Jesus was crucified and died on the cross so that we could be forgiven for our sins. Scripture teaches that as believers we are to reflect Jesus’s sacrifice by forgiving those who have hurt us.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.¹

We are called to both forgive others who have wronged us and to ask forgiveness of those we have harmed or wronged. Following are quotations on forgiveness which add to what was previously written on this topic in the More Like Jesus series.²

“How can you learn to forgive others? The first step is to understand what it cost Jesus Christ to forgive you. You and I don’t deserve God’s forgiveness—but because God loves us, Christ gave His life for us. Accept His forgiveness today, and then ask Him to help you forgive others the same way He has forgiven you—freely and fully.”—Billy Graham

“Forgiveness isn’t approving what happened. It’s choosing to rise above it.”—Robin Sharma

“Without forgiveness, life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.”—Roberto Assagioli

“Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.”—Cherie Carter-Scott

“Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.”—H. Jackson Brown Jr.

“Let us not listen to those who think we ought to be angry with our enemies, and who believe this to be great and manly. Nothing is so praiseworthy, nothing so clearly shows a great and noble soul, as clemency and readiness to forgive.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero

“We cannot embrace God’s forgiveness if we are so busy clinging to past wounds and nursing old grudges.”—T. D. Jakes

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”—C. S. Lewis

“If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.”—Mother Teresa

“You cannot forgive just once, forgiveness is a daily practice.”—Sonia Rumzi

“A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.”—Ruth Bell Graham

“When you’ve experienced grace and you feel like you’ve been forgiven, you’re a lot more forgiving of other people. You’re a lot more gracious to others.”—Rick Warren

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”—Lewis B. Smedes

“Blame keeps wounds open. Only forgiveness heals.”—Thomas S. Monson

“You can’t forgive without loving. And I don’t mean sentimentality. I don’t mean mush. I mean having enough courage to stand up and say, ‘I forgive. I’m finished with it.’”—Maya Angelou

“Let us forgive each other—only then will we live in peace.”—Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

“Forgiveness is not a feeling; it is a commitment. It is a choice to show mercy, not to hold the offense up against the offender. Forgiveness is an expression of love.”—Gary Chapman

“Forgiveness should start now. Putting off forgiving only deepens the wound. Clinging to bitterness postpones happiness. Life is short, time is fleeting. Today is the day to forgive.”—Wilferd Peterson

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.”—Paul Boese

“Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.”—Billy Graham

“Forgiveness is not a feeling—it’s a decision we make because we want to do what’s right before God. It’s a quality decision that won’t be easy and it may take time to get through the process, depending on the severity of the offense.”—Joyce Meyer

“When you forgive, you in no way change the past—but you sure do change the future.”—Bernard Meltzer

“We don’t forgive people by pretending they didn’t do bad things to us, or by just trying to forget what they did. That wouldn’t be honest—and in any case, it’s usually not possible. Instead, forgiveness is a deliberate act—a definite decision to let go of our anger and hatred (and whatever else is bottled up inside of us because of what someone did), and to love them despite what they did. Is that easy to do? No—but with God’s help it is possible.”—Billy Graham

“There are a lot of bad things in life that are evil. Not everything that happens in this world is God’s will, but that’s why we need God in our lives. So forgiveness isn’t forgetting what happened, it’s about finding what good came out of it.”—Rick Warren

“The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.”—William Blake

“How does one know if she has forgiven? You tend to feel sorrow over the circumstance instead of rage, you tend to feel sorry for the person rather than angry with him. You tend to have nothing left to say about it all.”—Clarissa Pinkola Estes

“It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.”—Maya Angelou

“Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.”—Marianne Williamson

“As long as you live on earth, you won’t see the end of injustices. Yet God desires for you to let go of injustices and hold on to His grace. Only He can give you the power to forgive those who have hurt you the deepest.”—Paul Chappell

“One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody everything every night before you go to bed.”—Bernard Baruch

“They caused the first wound, but you are causing the rest; this is what not forgiving does. They got it started, but you keep it going. Forgive and let it go, or it will eat you alive. You think they made you feel this way, but when you won’t forgive, you are the one inflicting the pain on yourself.”—Bryant McGill

“Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.”—Anne Lamott

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”—Martin Luther King Jr.

“The act of forgiveness takes place in our own mind. It really has nothing to do with the other person.”—Louise Hay

“As long as you don’t forgive, who and whatever it is will occupy rent-free space in your mind.”—Isabelle Holland

“When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive.”—Alan Paton

“It’s important to recognize that forgiveness is more than mere words; it’s a heart attitude that induces a spiritual transformation.”—Victoria Osteen

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”—Unknown

“Forgiveness is God’s command.”—Martin Luther

“Never forget the nine most important words of any family—I love you. You are beautiful. Please forgive me.”—H. Jackson Brown Jr.

“One forgives to the degree that one loves.”—Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.”—Lewis B. Smedes

“He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for everyone has need to be forgiven.”—Unknown

“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.”—Corrie ten Boom

“Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.”—William Arthur Ward

“Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, a mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith in God.”—Unknown

“Forgiveness is like this: a room can be dank because you have closed the windows, you’ve closed the curtains. But the sun is shining outside, and the air is fresh outside. In order to get that fresh air, you have to get up and open the window and draw the curtains apart.”—Desmond Tutu

“We think that forgiveness is weakness, but it’s absolutely not; it takes a very strong person to forgive.”—T. D. Jakes

“Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me.”—Unknown

“A broken friendship that is mended through forgiveness can be even stronger than it once was.”—Stephen Richards

“I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note—torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.”—Henry Ward Beecher

“Forgiveness has an uncanny way of bringing incredible good out of incredibly bad situations.”—Paul J. Meyer

“Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting, it means choosing to remember love instead.”—Kyle Gray

“Most of us need time to work through pain and loss. We can find all manner of reasons for postponing forgiveness. One of these reasons is waiting for the wrongdoers to repent before we forgive them. Yet such a delay causes us to forfeit the peace and happiness that could be ours.”—James E. Faust

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.”—Martin Luther King Jr.

“Forgiveness is not that stripe which says, ‘I will forgive, but not forget.’ It is not to bury the hatchet with the handle sticking out of the ground, so you can grasp it the minute you want it.”—Dwight L. Moody

“When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.”—Catherine Ponder

“Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury.”—Edwin Hubbell Chapin

“The blood of Christ covers all of our sins, but each of us must do personal business with God in order to experience his forgiveness.”—Lewis B. Smedes

“Forgiveness is the economy of the heart … forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.”—Hannah More

“Forgive others as quickly as you expect God to forgive you.”—Unknown

“It’s not an easy journey, to get to a place where you forgive people. But it is such a powerful place, because it frees you.”—Tyler Perry

“God forgives us … who am I not to forgive?”—Alan Paton

“Be gracious to others and forgive those who’ve hurt you because God has been gracious to you. You will never have to forgive anyone else more than Jesus Christ has already forgiven you. Remember that you haven’t always gotten what you deserved, either. God has been gracious with you. Now choose to be gracious with others.”—Rick Warren

“Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and a forgiving heart, one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them.”—Marvin J. Ashton

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¹ Ephesians 4:32.

² https://directors.tfionline.com/post/more-jesus-call-forgive/.

AUGUST 20, 2020

The Lost and Found

By Peter Amsterdam

Audio length: 10:51
Download Audio (9.9MB)

In Luke, chapter 15, Jesus beautifully expresses the heart of God in regard to salvation and restoration. He defends His association with sinners and challenges the attitudes of those who criticized and judged Him by telling three parables with similar storylines—the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son. This post will cover the first two of these parables.

The story begins this way: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’”¹

The Pharisees and the legal scholars were criticizing Jesus for not only eating with sinners, but receiving them as well. They disapproved of His eating with them informally or accepting invitations to meals at their homes, but perhaps even more so objected to how He “received them,” meaning that He showed them hospitality, and it’s possible that He may have hosted meals for them.

The lost sheep

In response to the criticisms voiced by the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus defended and explained His actions in three parables, the first of which is one of the most widely known word pictures from the Bible: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”²

Jesus’ defense begins with the question “What man of you, having a hundred sheep…” While there are positive references to shepherds in the Old Testament, and God is called the Shepherd of Israel, in Jesus’ day, those who shepherded sheep were automatically classified as “sinners,” as their occupation was one of the trades that were considered disreputable.

Shepherds were often seen as robbers, as they led their sheep to graze on other people’s land; they weren’t allowed to be witnesses in trials; they essentially had the same low status as the hated tax collectors. Jesus’ opening statement was in itself a provocative one, as He’s asking the religious leaders to imagine themselves as shepherds—and sinners—which is not the way they thought of themselves. Jesus’ question is also asked in a manner intended to elicit agreement that every shepherd in such a situation would search for the sheep which is lost.

The lost sheep, even though it was only one out of one hundred, was important to the shepherd. It was lost and needed to be found, and when it was, the shepherd rejoiced. But the story doesn’t end there. “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’^”3

The village community rejoices together that the shepherd who was searching for the sheep alone had returned safely, and that the sheep had been found unharmed. The Greek phrasing used to express that “he calls together his friends and neighbors” is sometimes used to describe an invitation to a feast. It’s possible that part of the community rejoicing would be sharing a celebratory meal together. The finding and restoration of that which was lost is cause for joy!

Jesus ends the story with: “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance^.”4 Jesus emphatically makes the point that God has great joy when someone comes to salvation. “More joy in heaven” would be understood as saying that “God greatly rejoices” over the sinner who repents.

In response to the criticism of His loving interactions with sinners, Jesus drew a word picture to show His Father’s love for all who need salvation, no matter who they are or what class of society they belong to. The Pharisees’ attitude, complaining about Jesus’ fellowship with sinners, is shown as being contrary to the nature and character of God. Rather than seeking out the lost sheep, the Pharisees advocated separating themselves from lost sinners.

This parable, like many others, is presented in the “lesser to the greater” format: If the lowly shepherd will search for and bring the lost sheep to restoration, how much more will God search for and rescue His lost children.

The lost coin

The parable of the Lost Coin is another reflection on the question Jesus asked in the first parable, only this time the main character is a woman. Women in first-century Palestine were considered inferior to men. In both of these stories, Jesus starts off with a bit of shock effect by making the protagonists people who His audience thought themselves superior to.

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”⁵

Most peasant villages at the time were basically self-supporting, making their own cloth and growing their own food. Cash would have been rare, and for this woman, losing the coin was apparently a significant loss. The intensity of the loss is portrayed when looked at in comparison to the first parable, where one sheep out of one hundred was lost. Here it is one coin out of ten.

Poor homes in Palestine generally only had a door and perhaps a few stones left out of the wall near the roof for ventilation, and there was very little natural light in the house. One can imagine the anxiety of the search, sweeping every place where the coin could possibly be with great care, moving furniture, and sweeping over and over again until it is found. In this parable the emphasis is on the diligence of her search.

Upon finding it, she calls her female friends and neighbors together to rejoice over the lost coin which was found. The phrase “rejoice with me” echoes the same words the shepherd said to his neighbors. The woman, like the shepherd, invites her friends and neighbors to enter into her joy at finding what was lost.

Jesus then repeats a phrase used in the first parable when He says, “Just so, I tell you,” or in other translations, “I say unto you.” This phrase is used throughout all four Gospels when Jesus makes an authoritative statement. In this case He uses it to proclaim: “There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”⁶ “Joy before the angels,” otherwise translated as “joy in the presence of the angels,” corresponds to the “joy in heaven” described in the first parable, expressing God’s joy at the lost being found.

The woman searching for the coin is an analogy of God’s diligence and effort in seeking the lost. If a woman who loses her coin will search so carefully to find it and rejoice so greatly when it is found, how much more will God search out those who are lost and rejoice when they are found.

These parables shed light on God’s view of redemption and restoration. Unlike the Pharisees and scribes, who criticized Jesus for the company He kept, God seeks to save those who are lost. He doesn’t focus on their social status, their wealth, where they come from, or how religious or nonreligious they are. He seeks them because they are lost and need to be found. He seeks them because He loves them and cares about them and wants to restore them to Himself.

God, through His Spirit, not only makes an effort to find the lost, but He then restores them as well, as seen by the shepherd’s sacrificial work of carrying the lost sheep to be restored to the flock. We can see that sacrificial undertaking in Jesus laying down His life for ours, as He saves and restores us to His Father. And when this happens, God greatly rejoices!

As God seeks out the lost, we are often the tools He uses in that search. One of our jobs as Christians is to share the gospel with those in need. Do we keep an eye out for those He may be leading us to? And when we are face to face with someone in need of God’s love and truth, do we take the steps necessary to witness to that person and to express His message?

Are we willing to be winsome, to show God’s love to all, including the downtrodden, the rough types, those who in today’s world are rejected and looked down upon? Are we willing to mingle with the lost in order to show them God’s unconditional love and salvation?

May we each emulate the nature and character of God in our interactions with those in need of His love and salvation.

Originally published October 2014. Adapted and republished August 2020.
Read by Jerry Paladino.

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¹ Luke 15:1–2.

² Luke 15:4–7.

³ Luke 15:6.

⁴ Luke 15:7.

⁵ Luke 15:8–10.

⁶ Luke 15:10.

How to Be Conformed to Christ’s Image

BY KEN BOA   |    FEBRUARY 28, 2014   |   COMMENTARY

   

 

The Scriptures tell us clearly why we have been created: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). The Apostle Paul told the Galatians that he would labor with them until Christ was formed in them (Galatians 4:19). God’s purpose for us is nothing less than Christlikeness.

Loving God Completely

In the last several years, I have adapted and used this prayer by Richard of Chichester in my own quiet times before the Lord: “Thanks be to Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which Thou hast given us; for all the pains and insults which Thou hast borne for us. O most merciful redeemer, may we know Thee more clearly, love Thee more dearly, and follow Thee more nearly; for Thine own sake.”

If we are to love God completely, it will involve our whole personality—our intellect, our emotion and our will. “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). The better we come to know God (“may we know Thee more clearly”), the more we will love Him (“love Thee more dearly”). And the more we love Him, the greater our willingness to trust and obey Him in the things He calls us to do (“follow Thee more nearly”).

1. “May We Know Thee More Clearly.”

The great prayers in Ephesians 1 and 3, Philippians 1, and Colossians 1 reveal that Paul’s deepest desire for his readers was that they grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The knowledge the apostle had in mind was not merely propositional, but personal. He prayed that the Lord would give them a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened and that they would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 1:17-18; 3:19).

What does it take to know Him more clearly? The two essential ingredients are time and obedience. It takes time to cultivate a relationship, and unless we make the choice of setting aside consistent time for prayer and the reading of Scripture, we will never become intimate with our Lord. Obedience is the proper response to this communication, since it is our personal expression of trust in the promises of the Person we are coming to know.

2. “Love Thee More Dearly.”

To know God is to love Him, because the more we grasp—not merely in our minds but in our experience—who He is and what He has done for us, the more our hearts will respond in love and gratitude. God’s love for us is spontaneous, free, uncaused and undeserved. He did not set His love on us because we were lovable, beautiful or clever, because in our sin we were unlovable, ugly and foolish. He loved us because He chose to love us.

3. “Follow Thee More Nearly.”

As we grow to know and love God, we learn that we can trust His character, promises and precepts. Whenever He asks us to avoid something, it is not because He is a cosmic killjoy, but because He knows that it is not in our best interests. And whenever He asks us to do something, it is always because it will lead to a greater good. Our great task in the spiritual life is to do His will, to love the things He loves and to choose the things He sets before us for our good.

Loving Ourselves Correctly

1. Who Defines You?

We are constantly in danger of letting the world define us instead of God. It is only natural to shape our self-image by the attitudes and opinions of our parents, our peer groups and our society. It is only when we define ourselves by the truths of God’s Word rather than the thinking and experiences of the world that we can discover our deepest identity.

The Scriptures exhort us to look to Christ, not to self, for the solutions we so greatly need. To genuinely believe and embrace the reality of who we have become as a result of our faith in Christ demands consistent discipline and exposure to the Bible. It also requires fellowship and encouragement in a community of like-minded believers.

2. Seeing Ourselves as God Sees Us.

I define the biblical view of self-love in this way: loving ourselves correctly means seeing ourselves as God sees us. Contrary to our culture, the biblical doctrine of grace humbles us without degrading us and elevates us without inflating us. It tells us that apart from Christ, we have nothing and can do nothing of eternal value. We are spiritually impotent and inadequate without Him, and we must not put our confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3).

On the other hand, grace also tells us that we have become new creatures in Christ, having been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of His light, life and love (Colossians 1:12-14). In Him, we now enjoy complete forgiveness from sins and limitless privileges as unconditionally accepted members of God’s family. Our past has been changed because of our new heredity in Christ, and our future is secure because of our new destiny as members of His body.

Loving Others Compassionately

1. From the Vertical to the Horizontal.

In our call to relationship with God and others, the purpose for which we were created is an intimate relationship with the infinite and personal God who loves us. He is the initiator of this relationship, and we love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

The better we grasp God’s unconditional love and acceptance of us in Christ, the more we are liberated from the selfish quest of using people to meet our needs.

2. The Quest for Greatness in the Sight of Men.

When Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples on the night before His own sacrifice, a dispute about who would occupy the best positions in His Kingdom surfaced again. Christ’s rebuttal to their quest for recognition was that true greatness is found in those who are willing to serve. “For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves” (Luke 22:27).

3. The Essence of True Greatness.

John 13 portrays a visual parable that communicated this precise issue to the disciples with poignancy and clarity. It was evident that there was no servant to wash the feet of the Lord and His men before they reclined at the table. Their embarrassment became acute when Jesus Himself rose from supper, laid aside His garments, tied a towel around Him and began to wash the disciples’ feet and wipe them with the towel. His lesson was evident: if their Teacher and Lord became their servant, they should also serve one another (John 13:13-15).

The key to Christ’s willingness to serve others in place of being served by them is found in the crucial truth that Jesus knew that “the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God” (John 13:3). He knew His dignity and power (“the Father had given all things into His hands”), He knew His significance and identity (“and that He had come forth from God”), and He knew His security and destiny (“and was going back to God”).

4. Christ’s Resources Are Our Resources.

Just as Jesus knew who He was, where He came from and where He was going, so all who have put their trust and hope in Him should know the same. But few do. It is only as we frequently renew our minds with the spiritual truth of the Scriptures that we will move our thinking into alignment with the reality of who we are in Christ.

Like Christ, we have dignity and power; every spiritual blessing has been given into our hands (Ephesians 1:3, 19; 3:16, 20-21). We also have significance and identity; we have become the children of God (Romans 8:16; 1 John 3:1-2). And we have been given the security and destiny of knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:35-39). These limitless resources meet our deepest needs and overcome the human dilemma of loneliness, insignificance and meaninglessness.

When these truths begin to define our self-image, they make us secure enough to love and serve others without seeking our own interests first. Because of our security and significance in Christ, we do not need to be controlled by the opinions and responses of others. We have nothing to prove because we know who and whose we are. ©2014 Ken Boa

Ken Boa, the author of more than 50 books, is president of Reflections Ministries and Trinity House Publishers. He will be leading a seminar at The Cove July 25-27 on the topic “Finishing Well: Being Conformed to His Image.” For more information, go to thecove.org.

Scripture quotations taken by permission from The Holy Bible, New American Standard Version.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        AUGUST 18, 2020

How to Talk to God

A compilation

Audio length: 11:09
Download Audio (10.2MB)

Nothing will change a person’s life like really learning how to pray. It’s one of life’s most powerful lessons. And yet, astonishingly, we don’t teach people how to talk to God. We don’t teach them to pray with their hearts in a deeply personal way…

If you do nothing else with your life, develop an amazing friendship with God. Become a man or woman of prayer. This friendship will change the way you see yourself and the world. It will rearrange your priorities, as love always does. It will give you clarity and joy. We learn to live deeply by praying deeply. Find that place within you where you can discover more and more about the best version of yourself. Make your prayer time a sacred item on your schedule. Make it nonnegotiable. Strong daily routines are life-giving, and prayer is the first of them.—Matthew Kelly¹

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Prayer is simply talking to God—and the most important thing I can say about this is that God wants you to talk to Him! He loves us and He has promised to hear us when we pray. How can you learn to pray? First, understand why prayer is possible.

Prayer is possible because Jesus Christ has removed the barrier between us and God—a barrier caused by our sins. You see, sin separates us from God, and because of that we have no right to come before Him. But by His death on the cross, Christ paid the penalty for our sins and removed the barrier. God then gives us the privilege of coming into His presence when we commit our lives to Christ.

The Bible says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”² If you have never done so, ask Christ to come into your life today.

Then understand that God now welcomes you into His presence and promises to hear you—and He cannot lie. The Bible says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”³ Trust His promises and learn to bring every concern to Him in prayer. …

God wants you to come to know Him more and more each day. Jesus’ disciples repeatedly asked for His help, and so should we. On one occasion they said, “Lord, teach us to pray.”⁴

Yes, God hears our prayers on all occasions, whether we’re praying out loud or praying silently in our hearts and minds. After all, He knows all about us and knows what is going on inside us—both good and bad. The Bible says that God “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”⁵ The Bible also says, “The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked, but those of the pure are pleasing to him.”⁶

God even hears our prayers when we can’t put them into words—times, for example, when our hearts are too burdened or confused even to speak. The Bible says, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”⁷

One of God’s greatest gifts to us is the privilege of prayer—a privilege that is possible because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Thank God for the privilege of prayer and learn daily to “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”⁸—Billy Graham⁹

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Prayer is our access to God. The Bible says that Jesus taught His disciples to pray; He taught them how to have access to the Father. The example of how He taught them to pray applies to us today. Each of us has that direct access to God. Each one of us is able to talk directly to God and ask Him anything we need to know in our lives. And what I find absolutely fantastic is that God gives answers. Of course, the answers I have received weren’t always the ones I wanted, and things didn’t always turn out the way I hoped for or thought they would happen. But the cool thing is that He answers me, and He will answer you too when you ask.

Just be sure to stay open to His answers, just like Jesus prayed “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.” When you have a problem or difficulty in life, take it to Jesus. Take time to pray, to tell God what’s on your heart. There may be others that you want to pray for, too. And I have found that He works the same way with those prayers. Explain their need and ask for His help in the situation, and then trust.—Dan Ross

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How do you talk to God? How should we talk to God?

I often hear Christians who have picked up a really bad habit of saying “Father God” at least once every five words. I am not making this up. You have probably heard something like it yourself.

Such prayers sound like this:

Father God, I thank you, Father God, for being here, Father God, and for allowing us, Father God, to study Scripture today, Father God. And Father God, may you bless our minds, Father God, with your Spirit, Father God, so that, Father God, we may become more Christlike, Father God, and in your name, Father God, bring others to you, Father God.

And on and on it goes. … Such a way of praying certainly develops a good rhythm, but is that really what we are going for in our prayers? Rhythm? No. I think that when we pray, our goal should be communication with God.

So how can you do that?

When people say “Father God” over and over in their prayers, I imagine God does not mind as much as I do … but please, when you pray, learn to talk to God like you talk to anyone else. You do not need fancy words, fancy language, or lots of repetition.

And God definitely doesn’t need to be reminded of who we are talking to. …

Let’s start talking to God the way we talk to anyone else. God does not need to be reminded that we are talking to Him.

In fact, you don’t even need to start your prayers with the word “Dear” and end them with the word “Amen.” Do you do this when talking to anyone else? Nope. So just talk to God like you talk to any other friend who is standing right next to you. Because that is exactly where God is.

Here is “The Lord’s Prayer” [for today] which follows this way of thinking about God and about prayer:

Hey, Dad, I know that you want people to know who you are, and so help me learn to follow your ways here on earth just as they are followed in heaven. Help me do this by trusting you for my needs today and avoiding the way the world wants me to live. Hopefully as you teach me to live this way, others will come to know you through me. I’m serious about this, okay?

Now really, that prayer is quite generic. It doesn’t say much. But it’s a template for how our conversations with God can go. You don’t need to memorize this prayer or recite it. After all, do you memorize a conversation you want to have with your wife and recite it to her every night at dinner? I hope not. …

The point is this … God is a real person who wants to have real conversations with you. So talk to Him that way.—Jeremy Myers¹⁰

Published on Anchor August 2020. Read by John Laurence. Music by Michael Dooley.

---

¹ Matthew Kelly, Rediscover the Saints (Blue Sparrow, 2019).

² Hebrews 4:16.

³ 1 John 5:14.

⁴ Luke 11:1.

⁵ Hebrews 4:12.

⁶ Proverbs 15:26.

⁷ Romans 8:26.

⁸ 1 Peter 5:7.

⁹ https://billygraham.org/story/prayer-101-how-do-i-talk-to-god.

¹⁰ https://redeeminggod.com/talk-to-god.

06: WARRIORS OF THE FAITH

1981-04-01

A Study of Revelation: Revelation Chapter 6:9–17

David Brandt Berg

Revelation chapter 6, verse 9: “And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

“And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Revelation 6:9–17).

We’re reading from the sixth chapter of the book of Revelation, beginning with the ninth verse. We’ve already covered the first eight verses in the previous class on the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Do you remember what these horses were? The first one was Jesus on the white horse with a crown and a bow going forth to conquer. The second was the war horse. The third was the commercial system, buying and selling. And the last one was death by every means—hunger, famine, pestilence, plague.

You may wonder, “Were these separate times? Did Jesus first go forth and conquer, and then war came, and then after that the commercial system came, and then came death?” No, these horses, although they’re pictured one by one, began to ride almost immediately. God told John when He first started giving him this revelation that these are things which shortly must come to pass, for the time is now at hand. Therefore, these things began to come to pass in John’s day; in fact, they were already existent in John’s day. These horsemen were already riding in John’s day. God was just revealing them to him one by one to show him the difference.

The horse of Christ and Christianity, the great white horse with Him with a golden crown and a bow in His hand to go forth conquering and to conquer: Jesus had been riding that horse for many years already, and the church spread around the world—the whole Roman world of the day. There had been wars and rumors of wars, and there had been much commercialism and buying and selling, and plenty and poverty and famine, and finally all kinds of death. So these horses had been riding continuously. In fact, He’s just picturing here what has been going on for the last 2000 years.

These seven seals of the book of Revelation are the seals of history, you might say, history in advance. They cover the time from the days of John, about 100 A.D., down to the very end of the world. So these seals of this seven-sealed book are a picture of the future from the days of John to the very end. The first seal was the four horsemen of the Apocalypse—Christ and His kingdom, war, commercialism, and all forms of death—riding from John’s day till the end.

This whole first part of the book, almost the whole first seven chapters, has to do with history from John’s day until the end, particularly until the Tribulation period. But the first six seals here, as you can see, cover the entire period. It’s sort of a summary. As they say in the movies, it’s a flashback of what has happened since John’s day to the present. Under the first four seals were these four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Under the fifth seal we have another picture of heaven, this time not exactly the throne scene, but an altar scene. We see the souls of the martyrs, their spirits, clothed in white robes, pictured under the altar of God, meaning they are waiting there, in a sense, where they were sacrificed as living sacrifices for the Lord. God’s Word says that we are to “yield our bodies a living sacrifice unto the Lord,” which is His perfect will, and your perfect sacrifice, “that ye may know what is that good and acceptable will of God” (Romans 12:1–2).

You want to know the will of God? Yield your body a living sacrifice, which is good and acceptable unto the Lord, which is His perfect will for you, and then you’ll know God’s will. But not until you’re willing to give yourself in His cause as a martyr for Christ—not necessarily to die but to die daily, to live and die daily for Him, in witnessing and serving Him in winning souls. That’s what He expects of you. In a sense, every one of us is a martyr. In a sense, every one of us dies daily for the Lord.

I remember a lady in one of our Bible school classes in Miami, Florida. She loved to sit in church and listen to beautiful sermons and organ music and lovely choirs, but she finally felt that really she needed a little more Bible study to know more about the Bible.

So she decided she wanted to go to Bible school. She picked our little Bible school because it was free. Not only free tuition, but free room and board, too. So she came to our school to take this Bible course and learn more about the Bible.

But then she found out that a part of our schedule, about half of it, was spent out in the field, not just studying theory and just studying the Bible—which is all very good and a necessary preparation, because it’s your tool, you’ve got to do it—but she had to spend half her time out with the other students in the field, with her teachers going door to door or on the street corner or in the park learning how to preach the Gospel, how to witness, how to win souls.

She came back after her first day out witnessing and said, “Oh my God! Do I have to do that again?” She said, “This just kills me! That business of going out and passing out tracts on the street corner—me a respectable, reputable, well-to-do woman, standing there like a beggar on the street corner begging people to take my literature. This just kills me. Do I have to do that again, brother?”

I said, “Yes, sister, you do, because that’s exactly what it does, and it’s good for you. It just kills your pride, and it kills your reputation, and it kills your vaunted idea of yourself, and it kills you in the eyes of man, when out there on the corner you get his contempt and his scorn and ridicule.”

It kills you, all right. It makes you a martyr every day. Every single day, you’re a martyr for Jesus and you die daily, as the apostle said (1 Corinthians 15:31). These are the martyrs for Jesus Christ. We’re all martyrs in that sense. You don’t have to die physically on a cross or be beheaded or whatever in the long run; you’re a martyr every day. Do you know what the word means? Martyr is a Greek word meaning “a witness.” And you’ll find out that witnessing is martyrdom to your pride and your self-respect and the opinions of men.

Witnessing is martyrdom, and if you are a faithful witness unto God, you will be a martyr for Jesus Christ. So these folks were martyrs. They had died daily and died the final death and were in heaven with the Lord, waiting to be avenged for the blood that they had shed. They’re waiting there for God to avenge them against their enemies who tormented them and persecuted them and ridiculed them and made it hard for them.

These saints wanted retribution. “How long, O Lord, are You going to not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”—Their persecutors their tormentors, their torturers. And the Lord said, “Just be patient, just rest a little while longer for all of your fellow servants who are dying daily right now for Me and will die for Me. Wait till the whole flock is in, and then I’m going to turn loose My judgments on them. When I’ve called out My sheep from among the goats, when I’ve reaped My good grain from among the tares, so that they don’t get hurt.”

God always has to call His people out and get them out from among the wicked and the sinners. He says, “Come out from among her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins,” so you won’t be punished for her sins (Revelation 18:4). He says, “Come out of Babylon, the world system. Get out of it! Start serving Jesus.”

That’s what these martyrs have done. They died daily for Jesus.

Copyright © 1981 by The Family International.

05: THE FIRST 4 SEALS AND 4 HORSEMEN

1981-04-01

A Study of Revelation: Revelation Chapter 5 and 6:1–8

David Brandt Berg

“And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

“And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne. And when He had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

“And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen, amen, amen and amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped Him that liveth for ever and ever” (Revelation 5).

Praise the Lord for this wonderful scripture, this marvelous revelation! It’s a very mysterious passage, but when you understand who the Lamb is, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, then it’s not difficult to understand. If you realize that this seven-sealed book—called a book, but actually a scroll—was the book of the future, the book of the Revelation that God had promised to give to John, and herein, in this marvelous throne scene, then we discover it is about Jesus.

When no other man could be found worthy to open the book of the future, the book of prophecy, Jesus, the Lamb of God, was found worthy to open the book.

When He took the book, then the four beasts and the 24 elders had to praise Him and say, “Amen, amen” and to praise God. They fell down and worshipped Him and so on. Every one of them had harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. I’ve seen this in some of the dreams and visions that I’ve had, that prayers were like beautiful vases or golden vials full of perfume rising unto the Lord like beautiful flowers and angels and fragrances to God in heaven.

They sang as Jesus opened the book; they sang that He was worthy: “For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.”

Thank God, some people from everywhere are going to be saved. We’re doing our best to reach the whole world with the Gospel. Our Family is doing its best to go into all the world and preach the Gospel unto every creature just as Jesus commanded (Mark 16:15). We’ve preached it on six continents to over 100 nations in 40 languages. For one little outfit of at most 8000 missionaries, I think that’s a pretty good record.

So they sang this song praising the Lord, for He had made Himself worthy by shedding His blood. “And Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” We are already kings and priests unto God as far as He’s concerned. We may not look like it to the world, but we are already kings of this earth, and priests of our people unto God, because we’re already in the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God that is within us in our hearts, the kingdom of God composed of His saints, His children everywhere throughout the world.—All those who love Jesus, all those who have received Him as their Savior, the Son of God, and His sacrifice on Calvary for their sins, and His forgiveness and His cleansing from sin.

John beheld and he heard the voice of many angels. First of all the beasts and the four and twenty elders and the saints, and then many angels are singing. This is a real praise service up in heaven—a great, victorious session in the great throne room of heaven! There before that crystal sea through which God can look upon the earth and see everything that’s going on. And the number—how many angels? How, many beasts? How many elders? How many saints?—Ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, from everywhere—billion and millions! Hallelujah!

We’re not going to be the poor persecuted minority; we are then going to number in the billions and the millions, and we are going to rule the earth with Jesus Christ!

Jesus comes. He stops the earth, the history of this world, and He lets us off right in full view of our enemies. We rise in immortal victory over the forces of the Devil and of the Antichrist and right before the eyes of our enemies, now out of their reach forever, to be with Jesus in the air. This hasn’t happened yet here, but John is being given a vision of this to see what was going to happen in the future. He’s shown that Jesus opens this book of the future, this book of prophecy, sealed with seven seals.

It’s such an amazing and marvelous occasion that all heaven is rejoicing! All the angels are rejoicing, the beasts, the four and twenty elders, and the millions of saints. Beloved, you are not alone. “Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). What a cloud of witnesses! Never in the history of this world has there been such an audience for such a performance. You literally have billions upon millions of souls and saints and angels watching you from above in those heavenly galleries while you perform here on the stage of God’s history, His story, in this final act of His story, history. Isn’t that wonderful?

This will be the greatest show on earth, and all heaven will be watching.—All the saints of God that have gone on to be with the Lord, all the angels of God that have ever been created, including even Satan and all his angels, have to watch this grand and glorious performance and the final victory in the biggest hit that ever hit this world. That is going to involve millions of people, a cast not of half a dozen or a dozen or a score or two, not a cast of hundreds or even thousands, but a cast of millions upon billions acting out the last scene of God’s marvelous drama here on earth.

In John’s vision in this chapter, they’re all watching while Jesus begins to open the book of prophecy and future history begins to unfold. What a performance! What a cast! What an audience! No play or movie or television series on earth ever had such an audience as Jesus had as He began to open this book of the future—a history from John’s day down to our day, and on to the end. So Jesus is about to open the book now in chapter 6.

Let’s swing out into space and travel into the future, shall we? We are time travelers, space travelers. We even travel beyond the realm of space and time in this marvelous book.

Chapter six of the revelation of God to Jesus Christ and His angel unto John, first verse: “And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold, a white horse: and He that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto Him: and He went forth conquering, and to conquer” (Revelation 6:1–2).

Now begins the marvelous revelation of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.—These four mysterious horsemen of the book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse, depending on whether you want to use the Latin name for the book, the Revelation, or the Greek name Apocalypse.

The first horseman is obviously Jesus, with a crown all in white, going forth conquering and to conquer. What was happening in John’s day? Jesus was going forth to conquer the world with the Gospel through His saints and His apostles and the early Christians in a mighty conquest of the Roman Empire—more powerful in its message of love than all the legions of Roman force, cruelty, and war. Jesus is this mighty conqueror on the white horse in verse 2.

“And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword” (Revelation 6:3–4). This second horse of the Apocalypse was obviously the horse of war, and there have been nothing but wars ever since the time of Christ and the early church.

The red horse of the Apocalypse is the horse of war, and certainly nothing could have been predicted more truly of the two millenniums of history which followed from John’s day to ours. There has seldom been a day in the world’s history that there has not been a war going on somewhere, with slaughter and massacre and killing and wounding and maiming and the horrors of hell. What does it matter whether they kill with stones and clubs and bare hands or knives and swords and spears or planes and guns and tanks and atomic bombs? It’s all the same horror in the sight of God, the same horror of man brought on by the Devil’s inspiration to inspire man to kill one another and destroy each other.

“And when he had opened the third seal”—Jesus opened the third seal, another chapter in the book—“I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.”

Here comes the horrible horse of famine and the horse of commerce, the horse of money, the horse of commercialism, the horse of capitalism, and the horse of plenty, feast and famine both.

“And I beheld this black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine” (Revelation 6:5–6). Doesn’t that sound like your typical salesman, your typical merchant? Your typical high-pressure TV commercials, always hawking their wares? So this next horse was to become one of the curses of the earth: commercialism, moneymaking, capitalism, making precious every little bit of material and food and so on. That’s the third horse; we’ve now had three horses of the Apocalypse.

Seventh verse: “And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold, a pale horse.” The actual meaning here is a pale yellowish-green horse. “And his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth” (Revelation 6:8).

Here the final horse, the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse, was death itself in every form. Death not only in war, but death from beasts and death from plagues, death from famine and hunger, death in every conceivable form. Haven’t we had that kind of death ever since the days of John? Haven’t we had commercialism and trading and capitalism and greed since the time of this revelation?

But praise God, we’ve had Jesus.—Crowned with many crowns, the King of kings riding on His great white horse of victory! He’s been riding throughout the earth for the past 2000 years, conquering nation after nation and tribe after tribe and people after people with the wonderful message of the Gospel, until at least half the world has become Christian. Half the people of the world confess Christ and are at least nominally Christian.

So there you have the four horsemen of the Apocalypse: First Jesus, the Son of God conquering the earth with His Gospel of love. Second, war, the opposite of love—hate and killing and death. And then commercialism, capitalism, greed, trading, moneymaking, one of the curses of the earth that deprives the poor and makes the rich. And finally, the fourth horse, death in every form, from war and beasts and famine and plague.

Have we not had all four of these horses riding rampant for the past 2000 years since John? Have we not had Christianity spreading throughout the world? War throughout the world? Commercialism throughout the world, the commercial system, Babylon? And all forms of death and destruction? We’ve had them all, and they have ridden rampant for 2000 years since John until this very day.

They will continue to ride right until the end, when Jesus comes and takes His children out of the hell on earth this world becomes into the heavenlies, while He pours out His judgments upon the hell below.—Until we come again in the Battle of Armageddon and we conquer the forces of hell and death and satanic power, and wipe out the Antichrist and his mark-of-the-beast forces and destroy his Image and destroy the wicked who follow him, and we cleanse and purify the earth, and set up the kingdom of God upon this earth to be ruled by Jesus Christ with a rod of iron.

Copyright © 1981 by The Family International.

04: THE THRONE SCENE

1981-04-01

A Study of Revelation: Revelation Chapter 4

David Brandt Berg

We’re starting the fourth chapter of Revelation, and you’ll find that the fourth and fifth chapters are what we call the throne scene. God uses scenery, too, and He’s got some lollapalooza of pieces of scenery that you’ve never seen the like of before! He caught John up into that place to see some of God’s scenery and He showed him into the throne room. These two whole chapters are about what happened in that throne room, and give you a good introduction to what is about to occur.

Actually, the throne scene is a very remarkable scene, and God is making quite a bit of it because it’s very important. It’s another two chapters of introduction to the future and what’s going to happen, and in a sense, it tells you why.

“After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me: which said, John, come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit” (Revelation 4:1–2). A voice like that’s enough to scare anybody into the spirit.—A voice like a P.A. system, a megaphone, sounding like a big trumpet out of heaven. He says, “Come up hither, John. I’m going to show you things which must be hereafter.”

“And behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.” The rest of this you can read. It’s quite clear; it’s a description of this scene, and what beautiful rocks were around, things made out of diamonds and pearls and emeralds and rainbows and crystal sea, all kinds of gorgeous things there.

“And out of the throne proceeded thunderings and voices and seven lamps of fire, seven Spirits of God” (Revelation 4:5).

Some people don’t like us talking about the spirits of God, but if you notice in that fifth verse of the King James Version, it even capitalized the word “spirits.” There are multitudes of spirits of God—spirits of the departed saints who have gone on to be with the Lord in heavenly places, spiritual spheres in that other world.

In fact, if you love Jesus, you’re a holy spirit—one of His holy spirits. And one of these days, when you die and go to be with the Lord, you’ll be a holy ghost. How about that? Any of you like ghosts? Any of you don’t like ghosts? Well, I like some ghosts, but some ghosts I don’t care for. I’ve seen a few ghosts, but thank God, most of the ghosts I’ve seen were holy ghosts, departed saints, men and women of God, my own mother in heaven and others that I love who have gone on before to be with the Lord. These are holy ghosts, now spirits in the spirit world—someday to come back and regain their bodies and have new beautiful, immortal, supernatural resurrection bodies, to live here on this earth forever as the angels of God ruling over His creation. His original intention for man was to dominate His creation and rule over it.

Sixth verse: “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.” Then He describes these beasts, one like a lion, one like a calf, one with a face of a man and one like a flying eagle. “And each of them had six wings, full of eyes, and they rest not day and night, constantly saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come” (Revelation 4:8). This is to impress us with the majesty and the might and the power and the holiness and the importance of God, sitting upon His throne.

“And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to Him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy. O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:9–11).

Copyright © 1981 by The Family International.

AUGUST 14, 2020

How to Deal with Dark Times

By Tim Keller

In this video, Tim Keller speaks to our response to the dark times we may face in our lives. “Prayers [like Psalm 88] indicate God’s understanding: he knows how people speak when they’re desperate; he identifies with us in our suffering.”

Tim Keller recently asked for prayer for healing from pancreatic cancer: “I have terrific human doctors, but most importantly I have the Great Physician himself caring for me.”

Run time for this video is 30 minutes.

https://youtu.be/ulmaUtbayGY

AUGUST 13, 2020

The Kingdom of God

By David Brandt Berg

Audio length: 7:08
Download Audio (6.5MB)

I have been amazed to find how many times God refers in His Word to kingdoms, as well as Christ’s references to His kingdom in the Gospels. Apparently, the subject of kingdoms, and particularly Christ’s kingdom, is very important to the Lord. After all, this was God’s ordained form of government on earth almost from the very beginning, as a theocracy with Himself as King. As He says to Moses and Israel in Exodus 19:6, just before the Ten Commandments and the laws of His kingdom are about to be given: “Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.”

I’ve heard so many contrary teachings on the subject of the kingdom of God, and even God Himself calls it a mystery.¹ Some say it is in the future, some say it’s now. Some say it’s literal, some say it’s spiritual. Some say it’s here, some say it’s there. The fact of the matter is, according to God’s Word, it is all of these things!

Jesus himself compared the kingdom of God to a lot of things: a field, a seed, a treasure, a pearl, a net, a household, a king with servants given talents, a household of laborers, a tree, a wedding feast, a marriage, leaven, and a mustard seed.²

Jesus preached it, Philip preached it, Paul preached it, and we are commanded to preach it, and it is preached.³ We are told that it is given unto us, we receive it, are heirs of it, we have to enter it, it’s yours and within you, and you are called to it.⁴

Jesus said that it is hard for the rich and hypocritical religious leaders to enter it,⁵ and they shut others out of it,⁶ but it’s easy for the publicans, harlots, and sinners to get into it!⁷ It’s full of children, because “you’ve got to be a baby” to get in.⁸ One scribe wasn’t far from it,⁹ and even the least in it is greater than John the Baptist,¹⁰ but some are not even fit for it at all, because sometimes you have to forsake everything when going in!¹¹

Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world.¹² He said it’s at hand¹³ and is already come, and that some of the people He was talking to would see it come and drink wine in it with Him,¹⁴ so He told them to pray it would come.¹⁵ Paul tells us that Jesus is going to deliver the kingdom to God in the end, and John says the kingdoms of this world will then become the kingdoms of Christ, and He will be King of kings and Lord of lords.¹⁶ Isn’t that terrific? Hallelujah!

The Jews believe that the territory of God’s kingdom is limited to the boundaries of tiny Israel. Others claim it hasn’t come yet, and still others claim we’re already in it, while still others avow that it has yet to be given to either the Jews or the Christians or both, in some future time or place! Most people seem to think it’s some fancy place somewhere in outer space called heaven, only to be reached when you die, if you’ve been good while on Earth.

The fact of the matter is that all of these misconceptions are unscriptural—in other words, none of them are true. The real answer is found in the Scripture references cited above. Astounding as it may seem, the kingdom of God is you—His church, His Bride, comprised of the body of all true believers. You are the mystery He’s been talking about all the time! He is your King and His kingdom is in you. You are His subject and His territory, wherever you may be and whoever you may be. His kingdom is already here, and you’re a part of it. All these scriptures make it very clear that His kingdom is not an earthly kingdom or of this world, but it is in you.

His invisible heavenly kingdom is already in operation and existence. It not only surrounds us, but it is within us. As Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you,” and “if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight; but My kingdom is not of this world.”¹⁷ In other words, His kingdom is not after the fashion of this world with its earthly, flesh-and-blood kingdoms, but a now invisible kingdom of His Spirit which is already within us and which “now we see only through a glass darkly,” but will one day see face to face.

Now we only know in part, but then we shall know even as also we are known—in the amazing realm of the kingdom of God, where everything will be clear, true, and everlasting. “For the fashion of this world passeth away, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”¹⁸

We thank You, Lord, for Your kingdom which is going to last forever. We’ve already got it in us, Lord, and we’re in it already as far as You’re concerned. Wherever Your children are, it’s Your kingdom, until that day when You’re going to have the final complete takeover of all the earth. It will all be Your country then, when Your kingdom comes.

“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth. as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”¹⁹

Even so, may Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus’ name.

Are you ready for the kingdom? The kingdom of heaven is at hand—it is here, and now, in us!

Originally published October 1972. Adapted and republished August 2020.
Read by Jerry Paladino.

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¹ Mark 4:11; Matthew 13:11; Luke 8:10; Revelation 10:7..

² Matthew 13; Mark 4; Luke 13..

³ Matthew 4:23, 9:35, 24:14; Mark 1:14; Luke 8:1, 9:2, 60, 16:16.

⁴ Luke 12:32, 17:20-21; Hebrews 12:28; James 2:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:12.

⁵ Matthew 19:24.

⁶ Matthew 23:13; Mark 10:24–25.

⁷ Matthew 21:31.

⁸ Matthew 18:3; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17.

⁹ Mark 12:34.

¹⁰ Luke 7:28.

¹¹ Luke 9:62, 18:29.

¹² John 18:36.

¹³ Matthew 4:17, 10:7; Mark 1:15.

¹⁴ Matthew 26:29; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27.

¹⁵ Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2.

¹⁶ 1 Corinthians 15:24; Revelation 11:15.

¹⁷ Luke 17:21; John 18:36.

¹⁸ 1 Corinthians 7:31; 1 John 2:17.

¹⁹ Matthew 6:9–13.

AUGUST 11, 2020

God Loves You that Much!

A compilation

Audio length: 11:06
Download Audio (10.1MB)

Amazingly, God loves us passionately, and in His goodness He wants us to live with Him forever. So, 2,000 years ago, God Himself put on skin, came to Earth, and gave His very life to atone for our sin and prove His deep love for us. He paid the ultimate price to reconcile us to Himself, and nobody pays that high a price for something they don’t want or value.

Jesus certainly knew what was going to befall Him at the end of His earthly ministry.¹ In His anguish in Gethsemane, as He prayed about the trials that would soon befall Him, blood-tinged sweat dripped from His brow.² And Jesus surely knew very well the prophecy of Isaiah 52:14, “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness.” The Son of Man was flayed to the bone to the extent that He no longer resembled a human being. And that torture was followed by something even worse, the crucifixion itself, the most painful and vile method of execution ever devised.

As Jesus hung on the cross, His Father in heaven “turned away” from Him. Habakkuk 1:13 confirms that God’s eyes “are too pure to look on evil.” And at that moment, Christ cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”³

This is the price God paid for us, and this is how we know that He loves us. Because of this incredible and unwarranted love for us disobedient sinners, we are offered eternal life. Salvation is a gift, given freely for the asking, because of the breathtaking, voluntary sacrifice by the one true God. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Once joined to Christ, nothing can separate us from Him. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”⁴

Believers in Christ are made new. We understand the depth of His love for us: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”⁵

You, too, can immerse yourself in God’s eternal love for you and know the certainty of eternal life.—From gotquestions.org⁶

The wonder of God’s love

Shane Taylor was considered one of the most dangerous men in the UK prison system. Originally jailed for attempted murder, he had his sentence extended by four years when he attacked a prison officer with a broken glass, setting off a riot.

He was put in a segregation unit inside a maximum-security prison. He was given his food through a hatch. His door was not opened unless there were six officers armed with riot shields waiting outside.

Later, he was transferred to Long Lartin maximum security prison, where he was invited to Alpha [a Bible study]. During the course he prayed, “Jesus Christ, I know you died on a cross for me. Please, I don’t like who I am, please forgive me, please.” At that moment he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Everything changed overnight. He said, “I knew God existed, I knew Jesus had touched me and I was going to live for him forever.”

His behavior changed so much that he went from living in total segregation to getting a trusted job in the prison chaplaincy. He started sending money to a charity in Africa. He prayed for the prison officers and for his enemies and, when he came out of prison, he got involved in a church.

Talking to Shane now, it is hard to imagine that he is the same person who terrified so many people in the past. He has experienced the wonder of God’s great love. He says, “Jesus has shown me how to love and how to forgive. He has saved me. He has forgiven me for what I have done. He has changed my life.”…

Through his death and resurrection,⁷ Jesus makes it possible for all of us to be forgiven and to enjoy the wonder of his great love into eternity.

Lord, thank you for the wonder of your great love. Thank you for your extraordinary generosity. … Thank you that you forgive us all when we turn to you and you give us all the possibility of enjoying the wonder of your great love into eternity.—From bibleinoneyear.org⁸

The lover of all lovers

Jesus Christ is not merely a philosopher or teacher or rabbi or guru, or even a prophet. He is the Son of God. God, the Great Creator, is a Spirit and is all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere and in everything—far beyond our limited human comprehension. God sent Jesus, in the form of a man, to show us what He Himself is like and to bring us to Himself. And although many great teachers have spoken and taught about love and about God, Jesus was love and He was God—the only one who died for the sins of the world and rose from the dead. He’s in a class all by Himself, because He’s the only Savior. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.”⁹

How can you find out and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ really is the Son of God, the way of salvation? The answer is simple: try Him. Simply humble yourself and sincerely pray and ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Ask Him to come into your heart, forgive you of all your sins, and fill your life with His love, peace, and joy.

He’s real and He loves you—so much that He died in your place and suffered for your sins so that you wouldn’t have to.—If you’ll just receive Him and His free gift of eternal life. But He can’t save you unless you want Him to. His love is all-powerful, but He won’t force His way into your life. He knocks at the door of your heart. He doesn’t kick it in or break it down. He stands there gently, meekly, in loving patience, waiting for you to open up and ask Him in.

Will you receive Him? If so, He will be the most precious one in your life, your closest friend and companion, who will be with you always. For He alone is the lover of all lovers, who came for love and lived in love and died for love, that we might live and love forever.

You can personally receive Jesus into your own heart right now by sincerely praying this simple prayer:

“Dear Jesus, forgive me for all my sins. I believe You died for me. I believe You’re the Son of God, and I now ask You to come into my life. I open the door and I invite You into my heart. Jesus, please help me to confess You before others that they may find You too. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.”—David Brandt Berg

Published on Anchor August 2020. Read by John Laurence. Music by Michael Dooley.

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¹ Mark 8:31; John 18:4.

² Luke 22:44.

³ Matthew 27:46.

⁴ Romans 8:38–39.

⁵ Galatians 2:20.

⁶ https://www.gotquestions.org/does-God-need-us.html.

⁷ Matthew 20:18–19.

⁸ https://www.bibleinoneyear.org/bioy/commentary/774.

⁹ John 14:6 KJV.

02: REVELATION OUTLINE

1981-04-01

A Study of Revelation  David Brandt Berg

You’ll find the book of Revelation is divided into three divisions of seven chapters each—plus one. The book has 22 chapters, and the 21 chapters have three divisions of seven chapters each, plus a glorious and beautiful 22nd chapter about heaven that’s in a class all by itself.

Each group of chapters, each seven of chapters, has to do with a different subject, and I’m just giving you a general overall title or subject matter for each of these. The first seven chapters are the introduction to the real nitty-gritty of the book, a general introduction to the endtime, because the first seven chapters cover the entire history of man from John’s day, the man who got this revelation from the Lord.—The apostle John, John the Beloved, John the Revelator, the author of the Gospel of John, that great old warrior of the faith, that dear old saint of God who lived to the nineties and was getting this revelation on the Island of Patmos as an exile.
The Romans had tried to kill him, boil him in oil and so on, but he wouldn’t boil, so they sent him to the Island of Patmos. They tried to get him away where he couldn’t do any damage, where he couldn’t reach any people, where there weren’t any people to preach his gospel of love to, there weren’t any people he could subvert with this underground Gospel that threatened to destroy the Roman Empire.

So he just sat down and got a book from the Lord which not only reached a handful of farmers on the Isle of Patmos, but all of Asia and all of Europe and all of Africa, and finally the whole world, and has been read by billions of people.

The Romans exiled him to the Isle of Patmos to try to keep his mouth shut and to try to keep his message away from the people, but in so doing they just helped the plan of God, and he was better able to listen to God and get these marvelous revelations. And here we are 2000 years later, studying the words that he received on that island which have spread around the world for 2000 years.

When the Devil tries to shut up the prophets of God, if you just give him enough rope, he’ll hang himself! They thought they were banishing John, exiling him to a place where he couldn’t preach anymore, but God gave him such a revelation there that he’s never stopped preaching since.

His mouth has been opened in this book ever since. He’s kept preaching his gospel of this Revelation ever since. We’ll get into the word-by-word, verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter study a little bit later; first we’re trying to give you a general synopsis. That’s a Greek word which literally means a bird’s-eye view of the whole book.

So the first seven chapters is a sort of review or a synopsis of the history of man from John’s day to the end.

In the second seven chapters, instead of just flying across the whole history of man for the past 2000 years, (which he was predicting in these first seven chapters, and it’s all been fulfilled or is being fulfilled)—we circle around and we fly a little bit closer to the endtime, the very end of these 2000 years of history which John in predicting by the Spirit of God.

In the first seven chapters, we also have what are known as the seven seals. The Lord Himself, the Lamb, receives this book of seven seals, a scroll with seven seals. He breaks open each seal and as He does, a different period of history happens, a different event in history occurs, and we’ll study that in detail later.

We find the second seven chapters, from the eighth through the fourteenth, have to do with a famous and very important final period of man’s history known as the reign of the Antichrist and the Great Tribulation period, and it ends with the marvelous coming of Christ and the Rapture of His saints in chapter 14. In the second seven chapters are the seven great Trumpets of Tribulation, the Tribulation Trumpets of the second seven chapters, and all the terrible things that happen during the Great Tribulation period.

Finally the third seven chapters, chapter 15 through 21 plus 22, is a terrible picture, as well as a beautiful picture of the endtime. First has to come the bad news and then comes the good news, because the worse it gets, the better it’s going to get. And the sooner it gets worse, the sooner it’s going to get better.

So in those last seven chapters, plus one, we find a detailed description of this end period, including some more details about the wrath of God and the great destruction of Babylon, the world system, and the final great Battle of Armageddon in which the forces of God fight against the forces of Satan and defeat him and his Antichrist Devil-man and his False Prophet and his whole kingdom. They gain a glorious victory as Jesus comes back again, this time with His followers on great white horses to charge through the skies to conquer the forces of the Enemy, to set up His kingdom here on earth.

This is followed by the marvelous, beautiful, heavenly kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth, heaven on earth, called the Millennium because it lasts a thousand years on the earth as it should have been, like the Garden of Eden restored again. No more pollution, no more evil curse, and almost no more death. If anybody dies at even a hundred years of age they’ll think he’s just a child (Isaiah 65:20). People will be long-lived like they were before the Flood, when they lived to be nearly a thousand years of age. People will live again like that during the Millennium.

These people are the ones who have managed to survive the wrath of God. He’s merciful enough to let them survive it, and they live through the Battle of Armageddon. The Lord had mercy, and the survivors are going to live on into the Millennium, that thousand-year period at the end.

We will then be in our spiritual, supernatural, heavenly bodies. We won’t even need “Star Trek” transporters or spaceships, and thank God there won’t be any “Star Wars.” Because right there in the middle of the Antichrist’s reign there’s a big star war in which Satan is cast out of heaven with all his angels. This is what starts the Tribulation as he possesses this Devil-man Antichrist.

After it’s all over, after the wrath of God and the Battle of Armageddon, before which we were caught up to be with Jesus in the air and the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb, we’re going to return with Jesus to conquer the earth and set up the kingdom of Jesus Christ for a thousand years over the unsaved who remain, those who survive the Tribulation, the wrath of God, and the Battle of Armageddon.

They must be pretty tough or they must live a pretty charmed life, or the Lord must be extra merciful to them for them to live through all that. But if they didn’t, there wouldn’t be anybody left but us Christians, the saved. There wouldn’t be any of the world to rule over and to teach and train and show how the world should have been and how it should have been run, to be an example to the universe of what kind of government man could have had if he’d just obeyed God and if Adam hadn’t disobeyed and eaten of that tree that God told him not to.

So this book carries us right on then through that great Millennial period and the final war of all, the Battle of Gog and Magog when Satan is loosed out of the pit of hell for just a little while to again go out and deceive the wicked people of the earth, the unbelievers, just to show that even though mercy be showed unto the wicked, yet they will not learn righteousness.

Even after a thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ in person with His followers as His personal officers and police and guardian angels, they will again rebel against the Lord Jesus Christ and His church, His people ruling the earth, and God will have to destroy them all by fire, including the earth itself and the heavens, the atmospheric heavens.

They’ll roll away in a big ball of fire like a scroll, and the earth will be completely burned up, burned over. Not the ball itself; it’ll remain. God didn’t intend to let the earth itself be destroyed, not the planet but the surface of the earth, in order to purify it, to wipe out all the wicked, wipe out all the pollution, wipe out everything that was bad or evil that still remained during the Millennium because of the wicked, and then He creates a New Heaven and a New Earth.

So that’s how this marvelous book goes. The first seven chapters are a synopsis or a preview of the whole world’s history from the time of John to the end. Second seven chapters, we come in for a close look at the last seven years and the last seven trumpets of the Tribulation period. Third seven chapters, the horrible end of it all, the wrath of God, the Battle of Armageddon, the Millennium, the Battle of Gog and Magog for a while, and then a New Heaven and a New Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness only (2 Peter 3:13). Those are the three sevens of chapters of the book of Revelation.

Here’s a brief rundown of the contents of each chapter:

Chapter 1: The introduction to things shortly to come to pass.

Chapters 2 and 3: Letters to the churches, churches that existed in that day, in Asia, as well as types of churches to come and church periods to come.

Chapters 4 and 5: The throne scene, with the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, upon the throne in heaven, who opens the seven-sealed Book of the Future.

Chapter 6: The opening of the first six seals and a preview of the whole contents of history to the end.

Chapter 7: The sealing of the saints, the sparing and sealing and protection of the final saints before the Tribulation days, the endtime.

Chapters 8 and 9: The Tribulation Trumpets, the seven great trumpets of the Tribulation, and the angels of God are warned only to hurt the unsealed, only to wreak the judgments of God upon those who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads but have taken the seal of the Antichrist instead, the Mark of the Beast.

Chapter 10 is a grand announcement that the end is coming soon.

Chapter 11: The two witnesses of the Tribulation and their rapture, some of the details of the endtime, and of the Tribulation.

Chapter 12: The church in Tribulation; the dragon wars with the church.

Chapter 13: The Great Red Beast of Tribulation, the Antichrist government.

Chapter 14: The Rapture of the Church, God’s children, and the wrath of God after the Gospel has been preached in all the world and the destruction of Babylon, the great world system.

Chapters 15–16: The wrath of God, with the angels of wrath and the vials of wrath.

Chapter 17: The picture of Babylon and the Beast, the world system and its worship of materialism and its beastly government of the Antichrist and the Devil himself.

Chapter 18: The destruction of Babylon in one hour. The great world commercial system, the great world materialistic system, is going to be destroyed in one hour according to the Word of God, in one day and one hour of that day. The merchants of the rest of the earth are going to stand afar off in ships and lament and weep over the destruction of all their treasures.

Chapter 19: Armageddon, that final great battle of this time period of earth and the marvelous victory of Jesus Christ over Satan and his Devil-man and his False Prophet.

Chapter 20: The Millennium and the Battle of Gog and Magog following it, in which Satan and all of his hosts and the wicked are wiped out.

Chapters 21 and 22: These are really the only detailed specific description in the whole Bible of what heaven is like, and to your surprise, you find out that heaven is on earth—a new earth, even more beautiful than the first one. There will be no more sea; there will be beautiful rolling green pasture and farmlands and trees and flowers, and no deadly insects or reptiles or pests or vipers or anything that would hurt in the whole creation. Nothing deadly, nothing harmful; everything beautiful, no Curse.

Copyright © 1981 by The Family International.

01: INTRODUCTION  1981-04-01

A Study of Revelation

David Brandt Berg

The passages in the Bible we are going to study in this series are some of the most thrilling in the entire book. It’s the grand finale, the last book in the Bible. The book is called the Revelation, or in the Catholic Bible, the Apocalypse, depending on whether you prefer Latin or Greek.

Revelation is the Latin term; Apocalypse is the same word in Greek. The New Testament from which this book comes, and with which it ends, was originally written in Greek, so that was the original Greek name of it. It’s called the Revelation of Saint John the Divine in the Protestant Bible. It’s called the Apocalypse of Saint John in the Catholic Bible.

The fact of the matter is that the book is neither one. It is a revelation, it’s definitely an apocalypse, but it’s not Saint John’s apocalypse nor his revelation, and I can prove it by reading you the first few lines of the text. In fact, the very first line of the first verse of the first chapter tells you whose revelation it really is.

So what does it say here in this very first line of the very first verse of the very first chapter of the very last book in the Bible? Whose revelation is it? “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” There it is. Who cooked up this other title, I don’t know. It says, “The Revelation of Saint John.”

Of course, He gave it through dear old apostle John, who by this time was nearly 90 years of age. Think of that! He survived all those years from the early days of Jesus’ ministry when he was just a young lad, a teenager about 16 years of age leaning on Jesus’ bosom at the Last Supper, John the Beloved Disciple. He’s called John the Beloved, John the Revelator, Saint John the Divine, John the Apostle. He’s got quite a few different names, but not John the Baptist.

John the Baptist was not one of the twelve disciples of Jesus; he baptized Jesus. John the Baptist was His predecessor, His herald, the one who introduced Him to the public when Jesus was about to begin His ministry and gather His disciples.

John the Baptist was a great prophet of God who came in from the wilderness to preach the truth of God and the soon-coming kingdom of Christ, to preach “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Jesus was already alive and well and 30 years of age and about to begin His public ministry (Luke 3:1–17).

When Jesus came down to the water, John the Baptist, humbly at Jesus’ request, baptized him according to the old Jewish custom of the Old Testament and the old Jewish traditions—not a requirement for today in the New Testament days. Now we are to be baptized with the Spirit of God, a much better, greater baptism than mere water baptism.

John the Baptist died soon afterwards in prison, beheaded at the hands of that cruel tyrant Herod, at the behest of his stepdaughter, a little teenage dancer. She pleased him so well that he said he’d give her anything she wanted, up to half of his kingdom. She asked her mother what she should ask for and her mother said, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist.”

The king couldn’t take back his promise then, although he liked John the Baptist. He feared him and he didn’t want to kill him, but he felt bound and obligated by his word and his vow to keep his word and behead John the Baptist. So he was killed during Jesus’ ministry here on earth. (See Matthew 14:1–12.)

But this John, John the Beloved, John the Revelator, who had been a teenager during Jesus’ ministry, is now about 90 years of age at the time of this glorious final Revelation of the Bible, his final, climactic, triumphant years after he had served the Lord for nearly 80 years.

They had tried to kill him and martyr him. They even tried to boil him in oil, but he wouldn’t boil, because he wasn’t done! He was too tough for the Roman Empire, because God was too tough for them. When they tried to boil him, he wouldn’t boil and they had to take him out of the oil perfectly whole, not a hair singed, not a bit of skin burned! What can you do with such a man?

They said, “Banish him to a distant island where he can’t cause any trouble preaching this dangerous radical revolutionary doctrine of love. It could destroy the Roman Empire.” And that’s exactly what it did. It finally reached Caesar’s house. Sad to say, Nero went crazy and tried to burn down the city of Rome and destroy all the Christians.

But thank God many still survived and have survived down through the centuries. John the Revelator, John the Beloved, John the Apostle who wrote that beautiful Gospel of John lived on to be 90 years of age, and clear up until about 107 A.D.

Since they couldn’t boil him, they exiled him to the Isle of Patmos, a beautiful island in the Mediterranean just off the coast of Turkey. There he spent his days in solitude and prayer and meditation, Bible study, writing letters to the churches to encourage them, until finally God began to give him this supernatural, miraculous, prophetic revelation from Jesus Christ Himself about the end of the world.

It’s a prophecy which actually begins with John’s time and continues through our time, through the endtime to the very end. In fact, it goes right on through the Tribulation, the wrath of God, the Millennium, and clear into heaven itself. It’s a marvelous book. I think you’re going to find it very fascinating, thrilling—and confusing, unless you understand it and you understand how beautifully God organized this book.

When John finally got to this time on the Isle of Patmos, he was beginning to draw close to the time of his departure from this earth and God was ready to give him the biggest job he’d ever done, to reveal to him the future of the world and the future of His church, His Christians, His children, those who love Jesus.

So there on that isolated island, far removed from the crowds and the multitude, God gave one of the greatest revelations that has ever been given to man, that has circled the globe for nearly 2,000 years and has given people warning for generations and given His children hope for hundreds and hundreds of years. This revelation showed that someday it was all going to come to an end and they were going to see the glorious, wondrous beauties of that Heavenly City coming down from God out of heaven to land on that heavenly earth, a New Earth and a New Heaven, and no more sea.

You think there’s not going to be enough room for everybody? There’ll be plenty. There won’t be any more sea. Today about 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by water, by seas, so when the seas are all dried up and the mountains are made low and the valleys filled in, we’ll have a beautiful rolling landscape, heaven on earth, heavenly flowers, trees, grass. We’re going to tell you all about it in the last chapter of this series, about that golden city like crystal gold, pyramid-shaped, 1500 miles wide and 1500 miles high.

I never understood the book of Revelation when I first read it, and I’ve known many preachers and theology students and philosophers and theologians who have read it and who haven’t understood it. Although I had known the Lord all my life and had studied God’s Word ever since I could remember, every time I studied the book of Revelation I got so confused I didn’t know what it was talking about.

There are parts of it that you can understand very clearly, and parts of it that you can certainly apply to yourself, which have a message for you and me today and have had messages for His church and all mankind for 2000 years. But it takes a little bit of the divine guidance of the Lord to really sort this book out right and understand what it’s talking about. You need the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God to guide you aright through this thrilling but confusing book.

When I became a young pastor and I had a congregation of my own, I felt responsible as their shepherd to teach them. I’d been teaching them Bible prophecy, and the prophecies of Daniel seemed very clear to me. But when I came to the book of Revelation and wanted to teach this to my people, I said, “Lord, I have heard so many interpretations of this book. I have read so many books on this book that I don’t know who to believe.”

So finally I climbed the ladder one day in my little adobe church to its belfry, and I knelt down by my little cot there in my study, between my cot and my desk, and I asked the Lord desperately, kneeling on those rough floorboards of that unfinished building:

“Lord, I’ve got to teach my people the truth. I don’t want to just teach them somebody else’s interpretation, and I’ve heard so many I don’t know which one is right. I have got to know what is the right interpretation of this book. Lord Jesus, show me what this book means. Please help me to understand it. Please show me how to teach them the book of Revelation. You must have put it here for some reason.”

I’ve heard some preachers say, “Well, it’s just an allegory, it’s just a kind of parable; it wasn’t meant for you to understand. It’s in sort of mysterious poetic language and you’re not really supposed to understand it. You can’t understand it; don’t try.” So I said, “Lord, how can I be expected to understand it? Some of these theologians who know the Bible better than I do don’t even understand it. But, Lord, I’ve got to know because I’ve got to feed my flock, which You commanded me to do, and I’ve got to be able to tell them the truth and what’s right about this book.”

Do you know what the Lord told me? He didn’t start telling me what all these different beasts and symbols mean. He didn’t start explaining these mysteries and telling me what every detail meant, and every word and verse. He said, “My son, sit down and read it as though you have never read it before. Just read it straight through and I will show you. I’ll reveal it to you.”

So I sat down right then and there and I think I spent a whole afternoon reading. I was preparing a day or two before Sunday what I was going to preach, another sermon on Bible prophecy about the book of Revelation. I’d already announced it and advertised it, and here I didn’t understand it myself.

I sat down and I read it straight through nonstop that afternoon. It’s possible, it’s only got 22 chapters. The reason it takes some people so long is that they get so bogged down in things they don’t understand that they stop and try to figure it out, and then they lose the whole meaning; they don’t get an overall grasp of the book.

I was sort of like a bird flying overhead viewing the scenery from a lofty height, from a vantage point far above, and I was watching the landscape passing rapidly beneath me as I read. It was so clear, it was so beautiful! The sights, the sounds, the scenes were so clear to me that I wondered why I’d never seen it so clearly before. The chapters just fell right in place so beautifully, and the continuity, the narrative, the chronological sequence, the harmony and beauty of it all became so clear as I read that I was astounded, I was amazed that I had never understood before.

You’re going to find out in this book of Revelation that John had help from the spirit world. Angels came and talked to him, Jesus came and talked to him, former saints of God came and talked to him, former prophets of God came and talked to him, those who had departed from this life into the spirit world talked to him and told him all these things that we’re going to find in this book.

It’s in the Bible and it’s true. Every word it ever said is true and has come true, and every prophecy it ever uttered has been fulfilled except the ones that are yet to come, and they’ll be fulfilled just as surely as the ones that have been fulfilled in the past.—God’s predictions of the future through this apostle John, the great revelator.

It was really Jesus who showed it to him. He’s telling us about the future, from the immediate future to the very far distant future: clear on up through the Antichrist reign, Tribulation, wrath of God, Millennium, and the New Heaven and the New Earth, the whole works.

I flew over Revelation and through Revelation like a bird, with the ease of a seagull floating above, floating on God’s divine currents of His Spirit and viewing the scenery below enrapt, enthralled in a rapture beyond description as God opened this book to me and I got a bird’s-eye view of the whole book, just as clear as anything I’ve ever read.

God willing, in the next lesson I’m going to try to summarize it for you. I’m going to give you a fast flight through the whole book of Revelation first, sort it all out for you in three marvelous parts composed of seven chapters each, each one on a separate part of history. So may the Lord help you understand this wonderful Word of God.

(Prayer) Jesus, help these who are sincere and hungry, who know Thy voice and hear it and follow Thee, help them to understand it. Help them to read this book. Help them to understand its words. Help them, Lord. Open their minds and their hearts and their understanding. Fill them with Thy Holy Spirit that You might speak unto them these worlds of life so they can know whereof they speak, and know not only what’s happening now but also the future, and know things that will help them in their everyday life to be joyous, to be healthy, and to lead a happy, fruitful life for You in helping others and sharing Your love with the whole world, in Jesus’ name we ask for Thy glory. Amen.

Copyright © 1981 by The Family International.

https://youtu.be/HsXKPn5boDA

AUGUST 7, 2020

The Impact of Small Choices

Interview with Joni Eareckson Tada

In this conversation, Jedd Medefind of Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) and Joni Eareckson Tada dig into small choices that can make all the difference, even in the thick of great struggles or severe limitations.

Run time for this podcast is 50 minutes.

August 6

Go; Take Your Property Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. (Deuteronomy 1:21) There is a heritage of grace which we ought to be bold enough to win for our possession. All that one believer has gained is free to another. We may be strong in faith, fervent in love, and abundant in labor; there is nothing to prevent it; let us go up and take possession. The sweetest experience and the brightest grace are as much for us as for any of our brethren; Jehovah has set it before us; no one can deny our right; let us go up and possess it in His name.The world also lies before us to be conquered for the Lord Jesus. We are not to leave any country or corner of it unsubdued. That slum near our house is before us, not to baffle our endeavors, but to yield to them. We have only to summon courage enough to go forward, and we shall win dark homes and hard hearts for Jesus. Let us never leave the people in a lane or alley to die because we have not enough faith in Jesus and His gospel to go up and possess the land. No spot is too benighted, no person so profane as to be beyond the power of grace. Cowardice, begone! Faith marches to the conquest.(Faith checkbook)

AUGUST 4, 2020

Freedom to Say Yes

A compilation

Audio length: 11:33
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The pioneer Christian apostle, Paul, wrote: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy comparing with the glory that is to be revealed.” … These are not the words of an armchair philosopher but of a man who had seen and experienced life at its rough end, unjustly suffering frequent beatings and imprisonment, and experiencing much deprivation and hardship.

At times I try to imagine what this glorious realm is like… But we cannot yet see that realm; and so we are left with many ragged ends, many burning problems of injustice. In light of them, another question looms large: Is there, nevertheless, enough reason to trust God with the ultimate outcome? Indeed, did it really have to be like this in the first place? Surely a God who is all-powerful could have prevented all this horrendous evil and suffering, simply by creating human beings incapable of doing evil?

Well, he could surely have made beings like that. But they would not have been human beings, would they? Let me try to explain. An essential and wonderful part of being human is that we have been endowed with the capacity to love. Love involves saying “yes” rather than “no” to another, and would be rendered meaningless if the capacity to choose between those two alternatives did not exist. In other words, the ability to love is intimately linked with the possession of what we call “free will”.

We are aware, of course, that the freedom implied is not unlimited: we are not free to do everything. For instance, I am not free to run at 60 miles per hour! Nevertheless, for a being to be free to say yes, it must be free to say no; to be free to love, it must be free to hate; to be free to be good, it must be free to be evil.

God could have removed the potential for hatred and evil at a stroke by creating us as automata, mere machines doing only that which we were programmed to do. But that would have been to remove all that we ourselves value as constituting our essential humanity.

There is inevitably a built-in risk with creating beings with real powers of choice. We humans should know that, since we do something similar when we have children. We know that any children we generate could grow up to love us; we also know that they could turn out to reject us. Why, then, have children? For most of us, the hope and desire for the love of children far outweighs the risk of their rejection of us.

We would not wish our children to be degraded to machines. Nor will God simply degrade human beings.—John C. Lennox¹

Freedom is a challenge to say yes

“The Lord gives us a vocation, a challenge to discover the talents and abilities we possess and to put them at the service of others,” the pope said June 1 in the square before the Palace of Culture in Iaşi [Romania].

“He asks us to use our freedom as a freedom to choose, to say yes to a loving plan, to a face, to a look. This is a much greater freedom than simply being able to consume and buy things. It is a vocation that sets us in motion, makes us fill in trenches and open up new avenues to remind us all that we are children and brothers and sisters to one another.”—Catholic News Agency²

God gives us freedom to choose our own path

The quest for freedom is a theme found throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Just three chapters into the story of God’s creation, humanity gave up its freedom by choosing to rebel against God. From that time forward, the perfect freedom God created in the Garden of Eden was gone, and the long-term effects were both physical and spiritual. …

Today, many people are living in spiritual slavery without realizing it. They chase false gods of money, success, personal comfort and romantic love—only to realize they still have an emptiness that can’t be filled by any of those things. … God created human beings, not robots. We don’t have to accept the freedom He offers us through Jesus Christ. He gives each person the free will to accept or reject His salvation. …

From cover to cover, God’s Word points to freedom in Christ. And God doesn’t leave us wondering how to grab hold of the freedom He offers. It starts with acknowledging our brokenness—and admitting we are slaves to sin. And it ends with choosing Jesus and following Him daily. Only He can break the bonds of slavery and lead us to true freedom, now and forever.—Billy Graham Evangelistic Association³

“Let all your things be done in love”⁴

The Lord will hardly ever make you do anything. He likes you to freely choose and yield to Him because you love Him. He always prefers volunteers, not draftees! “The love of Christ constraineth (compels) me.”⁵ We should all be working out of love for Him and each other, in loving and voluntary cooperation.

The Lord can’t make you choose to obey His commandments. You have got to want to follow, as otherwise you’re going to find some way to disobey! If people love the Lord, then they will want to please Him and do what’s right.

What the Lord looks on is not just all your hard work, but your motives. Why are you doing what you do? Is it because you have that same driving passion that motivated the Apostle Paul and all the apostles and the martyrs and every great man or woman of God?—That irresistible compassion which should motivate every child of God in everything they do, everything they say, everywhere they go, with everybody?

The Apostle Paul summed it up in these few famous and ringing words which have cried out from the heart of every true Christian in every good deed he has ever done, and for which indeed he is willing to die: “The love of Christ constraineth me.”

If you don’t have compassion, if you don’t have love, if you’re not serving because “the love of Christ constraineth me,” then you’re missing the whole point of it all. We are supposed to be working and serving and ministering for one reason—love for God and love for lost souls and others. We are supposed to be sincerely, honestly concerned about them, not just doing some kind of formal, mechanical job, going through the motions without the power thereof.⁶ What is the power? Love! And if you haven’t got that power, you haven’t got anything.⁷

May the love of Christ constrain us all. “For the greatest of these is love.”⁸—David Brandt Berg

Saying Yes to the Divine Likeness

How do we first see and then practice our unique image of God, our “Original Goodness”? Paul gives us an answer. He says, “There are only three things that last, faith, hope, and love.”⁹

From the very beginning, faith, hope, and love are planted deep within our nature—indeed, they are our very nature.¹⁰ But we have to awaken, allow, and advance this core identity by saying a conscious yes to it and drawing upon it as a reliable and Absolute Source. Image must become likeness.

Our saying “yes” to such implanted faith, hope, and love plays a crucial role in the divine equation; human freedom matters. Mary’s yes seemed to be essential to the event of Incarnation.¹¹ God does not come uninvited. God and grace cannot enter without an opening from our side, or we would be mere robots.

God does not want robots, but lovers who freely choose to love in return for love. And toward that supreme end, God seems quite willing to wait, cajole, and entice.—Richard Rohr¹²

Published on Anchor August 2020. Read by Jon Marc. Music by Michael Dooley.

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¹ John C. Lennox, Gunning for God (Lion Books, 2011).

² “Freedom is a challenge to say yes to God, Pope Francis tells Romanian families,” Catholic News Agency, June 1, 2019, https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/freedom-is-a-challenge-to-say-yes-to-god-pope-francis-tells-romanian-families-27429.

³ “4 Things the Bible Says About Freedom,” https://billygraham.org/story/4-things-the-bible-says-about-freedom. ©2016 Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

⁴ 1 Corinthians 16:14.

⁵ 2 Corinthians 5:14.

⁶ 2 Timothy 3:5.

⁷ 1 Corinthians 13:2.

⁸ 1 Corinthians 13:13.

⁹ 1 Corinthians 13:13.

¹⁰ Romans 5:5, 8:14–17.

¹¹ Luke 1:38.

¹² https://cac.org/saying-yes-to-the-divine-likeness-2018-12-25.

AUGUST 3, 2020

The Antidote to Worry

Words from Jesus

Audio length: 11:09
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Always remember that the future is in My hands. Any time you are tempted to fear or worry about the future, remember that most of your concerns are just speculation on your part. You don’t know the future, only I do, and I will always take care of you, no matter what the future holds.

You’re talking with the Premier Master at turning even defeat or seeming defeat into good. But I’ll need you to give Me space to work. Will you trust Me? I’m here for you. Remember that in your times of trouble, you are never alone or forsaken. My Spirit is always with you to comfort and protect you, and to lift your drooping heart. I understand what you’re going through and I promise that My presence will be with you constantly to comfort you during this time.

I will give you the grace for each step that I will lead you on in this path I have chosen for you. You’ll be amazed at the faith and trust that you’ll receive from My hand to be able to go through these times and to face down worry and fear. So hold fast to My promises and do not cast away your confidence in Me, which holds great reward.1

No matter what troubles befall you, I will bring you through these deep waters. You are My beloved, and I hold you up so that the waters cannot overflow you.2 The worse things may seem, the closer I’ll hold you. When your heart is overwhelmed, bring it to Me. You need not walk alone or battle on by yourself. Let Me carry you and bring you safely through troubling times. As you rest in My loving arms of comfort and hear My reassuring words, I will see you through.

No problem is beyond My ability to solve, but sometimes I don’t solve problems right away or change the situation because I am working out something better for you. Trust Me that I know best. Hold out for My best and be blessed!

Navigating stormy waters

When I promised to keep My children and to deliver them, I didn’t say that I would take them out of the difficulties that they faced. True, sometimes I do, but more often than not I bring them through those difficulties. If My children knew that as soon as they faced a difficulty they would immediately be pulled out of it‚ what strengthening of character and spirit would that bring about in their lives? In bringing you through tough times‚ difficulties, and hardships‚ I am able to give you My blessings of ultimate peace in the midst of any situation, faith that is not shaken, and a love for Me that nothing and no one can take away.

When you are experiencing troubling times, it takes faith to believe that I have a plan for your life and that you are on the right track. It takes faith to believe that you are actually making a difference in the hearts and lives of others. But as you follow My leading for your life, you will see that you are accomplishing My will and doing what I have called you to do.

The things that seem so difficult today are the things that, in the future, you will be thankful that you experienced, because they will have taught you important lessons of faith, patience, and wisdom. It’s never easy, but these will be the things that the spiritually stronger you of the future will praise and thank Me for bringing you through.

Life can be like sailing. I am your captain, and I know the seas of life. Many are content to just sail around in the safe harbors and not venture out into new waters, whereas others set their sails toward the horizon and head out into the open sea. It takes faith to set out into the open seas, to believe that My Word is true and that I will keep you safe and lead you on a true course. This type of faith is often gained through difficult situations where your faith is tested and you learn through experience that I will always bring you through the storms of life.

The shores of My blessings are not visible to those who stay in the harbor and never venture out for fear of stormy waters; it takes faith to set sail, trusting in Me to navigate you through them. My call to you is to venture out of conformity to this world, to let Me set the course of your life.

With each test you face and come through in life comes stronger faith. Remember that no problem or difficulty lasts forever. Things come and go. Life can be like a roller coaster, but I am your constant. My love for you is always present, and I can help you get through any challenge that you face.

Having lived on Earth, I know everything you will ever go through, and I will be with you to help you through whatever difficulty you face. I promise that I will not allow anything in your life that will not work for good in some way. You are Mine, and My love for you will hold you close through all your times of trouble. Your times are in My hands.

Keep your eyes on heaven. Fill your heart with My promises. Hold on to your faith and your crown, knowing that your present suffering, trying as it may be, is only for a moment and is not worthy to be compared with the blessings and rewards that I have in store for you.

Weary and heavy-laden?

When you feel that you can’t make it through another day, call to Me for spiritual reinforcement and ask for an extra measure of strength‚ grace, and endurance. When you feel as though you don’t have one ounce of strength left to give, come to Me and let Me refill you‚ which will help you to give again‚ with My Spirit giving through you.

Let not your heart be troubled or overwhelmed by the challenges you face. Trust that I have allowed this into your life so that you can grow in spiritual qualities, such as desperation and humility. These are My gifts to you, and they’ll be a strength and help to you in the days to come.

Sometimes when you’re in the midst of a trying time, it can seem like you are facing an impenetrable wall blocking your way‚ and all your efforts to break through seem to have no effect. But if you keep forging ahead, this wall of resistance will ultimately vanish, and you will come through stronger than ever!

Do not look at times of trials and tests as a rejection by Me‚ but rather as a time to leave all the cares of the world behind and to run into My arms. Sometimes I have to let you go through the valley of shadow and despair‚ where you will turn to Me for the comfort and encouragement you need.

Consider the passing of the seasons in nature. When winter comes, it seems like all plant life is dying out and all that is left is a cold wind blowing and a gray sky. But life is still present‚ only hidden in the warmth of the earth while the cold passes over. You can do the same when trials and difficulties arise. Come close to Me, bury yourself in My love and warmth, and let the problems and hardships of the moment pass over you. I will be like the warm earth all around you, protecting you and keeping you.

Real faith never quits‚ and you will find renewed strength as long as you keep fighting, keep praying, and keep looking to My Word for the answers. As long as you never give up, but trust in My strength to help you, you will rise above the obstacles of life.

Be not weary in well doing, for if you keep on going despite the circumstances, you will reap the rewards and be happy that you didn’t give up.3

Originally published October 2006. Adapted and republished August 2020.
Read by Simon Peterson. Music by Michael Dooley.

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1 Hebrews 10:35.

2 Isaiah 43:2.

3 Galatians 6:9.

The Family International

https://youtu.be/Gge7lbBf9RU

Countdown to Armageddon

Scott MacGregor

The King of the North

Daniel 11

Read Scripture

Here the heavenly messenger starts to reveal to Daniel future events that are to affect the Jews, Daniel’s physical brethren and nation, and eventually Christians, Daniel’s spiritual brethren.

Before we go further, it is good to note that this passage was relayed to Daniel and written down by him many years before the events detailed in the first 20 verses came to pass. These verses have been fulfilled in detail. What that does is give us a strong reason to believe the rest of the chapter that has yet to be fulfilled.

Although we haven’t done this yet in this book, in this chapter from verse 2 on we will make note in this commentary which verse or passage is being referred to.

Verses 2–4: The angel reveals to Daniel how the fourth king of the Persian Empire, richer than those who went before, would attack Greece with all the might of his realm. This was fulfilled when Xerxes marched on Greece in 480 BC. His engineers built two pontoon bridges across the strait now known as the Dardanelles, and marched his armies across.

His father Darius had done the same, but his invasion had foundered at the crucial Battle of Marathon 10 years earlier. Xerxes would fare little better. After the stubborn Spartan resistance at Thermopylae was finally overcome, Xerxes sacked the ancient city of Athens. But his navy was defeated soon after by the Greeks at Salamis. That compromised his communications and supply lines, forcing him to retreat back to his homeland. Even though a large Persian army wintered in Greece, it was thoroughly defeated the following year by an alliance of Greek city-states at the Battle of Plataea.

The Persian invasions gave rise to calls for revenge in the Greek city-states, calls that were answered 150 years later when the Macedonians, under Alexander, launched their invasion and conquest of Persia. The primary excuse given for Alexander’s aggression was that it was to avenge the past violation of the Greek homeland.

As we know, Alexander died young, and his kingdom was divided toward the four winds rather than passed on to his posterity or family, and the kingdoms into which it fragmented were never to achieve the same breadth of dominion his had. And as the prophecy stated and we saw in the last chapter, parts of the empire only remained under the control of the Diadochi for a few years.

After the dust settled, four major kingdoms emerged from the carcass of Alexander’s empire. But before long they began fighting amongst themselves once more. Of the four, the two prominent kingdoms to emerge were the Ptolemaic realm that comprised mostly Egypt and later some areas of the Aegean and Asia Minor, and the kingdom of Seleucus. Seleucus ruled a huge area comprising the eastern half of modern-day Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and even parts of India. And these two kingdoms continually disputed over the areas comprising modern-day Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.

Verse 5: We now enter into the very byzantine affairs of these two kingdoms and the dynasties that ruled them. The two personalities in the first half of this passage, the King of the South and the King of the North, are not just two individuals, but they refer to the successive kings of these two realms. The king(s) of the south are the Ptolemies and the king(s) of the north are the Seleucids.

The first two kings had been allies in their wars, so although relations between them could not be described as warm, at least they didn’t fight each other. Ptolemy I, the King of the South, had occupied the lands that were in those days called Coele-Syria, meaning “hollow Syria.” Strictly speaking, it is the valley of Lebanon, but it is often used to cover the entire area south of the An Nahr al Kabir River, including modern Israel, the southern part of which was then known as Judea. According to the various negotiated divisions of Alexander’s empire, these lands should have been Seleucus’s. However, Seleucus, the “one of Alexander’s princes who had also become strong,” had been much too involved in expanding his realm at the expense of many of the lesser Diadochi to go to war with his ally. This entente was not to last with their successors.

Verse 6: We now skip to the reigns of two latter kings, Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Antiochus II Theos.

Ptolemy, in order to bring the war he had been fighting for Coele-Syria with both Antiochus I Soter and Antiochus II to an end, gave his daughter Berenice in marriage to Antiochus II, as part of establishing a permanent peace and alliance between the two kingdoms. A condition of this alliance was that Antiochus should divorce his wife Laodice, and that the children of that former wife should be excluded from the succession to the throne. Ptolemy hoped that the Seleucid lands would thus, under the next king — his grandson — fall under the sway of Egypt. Ptolemy, however, died two years after this marriage and Antiochus, who had declared himself divine and thus earned the nickname “Theos,” meaning god, restored his former wife Laodice, and put away Berenice. Laodice then killed her fickle husband, and she and others planned the death of Berenice and her infant son. Berenice fled to Daphne, where she was captured, and she and her son were killed.

Kings of the North

SELEUCUS I NICATOR Ruler and later king October 312–September 292 bc; co-ruler 292–September 280 bc—assassinated

ANTIOCHUS I SOTER co-ruler 292–280 bc; sole ruler September 280–261 bc—assassinated

ANTIOCHUS II THEOS 261–246 bc

SELEUCUS II CALLINICUS 246–225 bc

SELEUCUS III CERANUS or SOTER 225–223 bc—assassinated

ANTIOCHUS III (“The Great”) 223–187 bc

SELEUCUS IV PHILOPATOR 187–175 bc—assassinated

ANTIOCHUS IV EPIPHANES 175–163 bc

Kings of the South

PTOLEMY I SOTER 305–282 bc

PTOLEMY II PHILADELPHUS 284–246 bc

PTOLEMY III EUERGETES I 246–221 bc

PTOLEMY IV PHILOPATOR 222–205 bc

PTOLEMY V EPIPHANES 205–180 bc

PTOLEMY VI PHILOMETOR 180–145 bc

Verses 7–8: When Ptolemy III Euergetes, Berenice’s brother, the “branch of her roots,” received news of her flight, he gathered an army and headed to Daphne — initially to rescue her, and then, when news of her death reached him, to avenge her. After receiving reinforcements, he made himself master of not just the western Seleucid lands, but crossed the Euphrates and subjugated the land as far as the Tigris.

Historical writings state that Ptolemy took back with him to Egypt 40,000 talents of silver, a vast number of precious vessels of gold, and 2,400 idols. Among those were many idols of the Egyptian gods, which Cambyses II, when he had conquered Egypt, had carried off to Persia. Ptolemy restored these to the temples to which they belonged and earned the sobriquet “Euergetes,” that is, the “Benefactor.”

Verses 9–10. Seleucus II Callinicus was proclaimed king of what was left of the Seleucid realm by his mother, Laodice, but had little success as king dealing with rebellions by his brother and other vassals. But on his death his sons, Seleucus Ceraunus and Antiochus the Great, renewed the struggle with Egypt. Ceraunus was assassinated after only two years as king, and his brother, Antiochus III, became king at the age of 18. His campaigns of 219–218 BC carried the Seleucid arms into Coele-Syria.

Verse 11–12: In 217 BC, Ptolemy IV Philopator met Antiochus in battle at Raphia in southern Palestine. Ptolemy had an army of 70,000 infantry, including a newly levied and trained Egyptian phalanx, 5,000 horse, and 73 elephants. He was met by Antiochus with an army of 62,000 infantry, 6,000 horse, 102 elephants. In a great battle, Antiochus was defeated, and retreated to Antioch. Ten thousand from the army of Antiochus were slain and 4,000 were taken prisoner.

Verses 13–14: Philopator was a dissolute libertine who was under the thumb of his favorites and ministers. Aside from the victory at Raphia, he didn’t accomplish much in the kingdom. Before that battle, the native Egyptians had mostly been kept in servitude on the land. But in order to strengthen his army, which had consisted entirely of mercenaries, mostly Macedonians, he had armed and trained native Egyptians to form the Egyptian phalanx. That expedient was to cause much trouble later on, as they left the army on their return to Egypt, weapons in hand.

Jewish mercenaries had been fighting in Egypt in the service of the Egyptians, Persians, and the Ptolemies since at least 664 BC, when their presence was recorded as garrisoning the island of Elephantine on the Nile in southern Egypt. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that Jewish mercenaries fought in Ptolemy’s army. Perhaps the “violent men of your own people” refer to them.

Meanwhile, Antiochus concentrated on restoring his possessions in the north and east. It would take some time, but by 200 BC, his army had grown and was battle hardened, and he was ready to renew his claim to Coele-Syria.

By 199 BC, he had possession of it, but then the Ptolemaic general, Scopas, recovered it for Ptolemy V, who had succeeded to the throne. But in 198 BC, Antiochus defeated Scopas at the Battle of Panium, near the headwaters of the Jordan, a battle which marks the end of Ptolemaic rule in Judea.

Verse 15: Scopas retreated to Sidon with the remains of his army. There Antiochus besieged him. Relief armies sent by Ptolemy under the leadership of his best generals were also beaten, and Scopas surrendered. He and the remainder of his army quit Coele-Syria and Judea. Never again would the Ptolemies exercise dominion over that area.

Verse 16: So Antiochus III stood as king and conqueror in the Glorious Land. Although he had been received favorably by the Jews and he treated them favorably in return, still the land had borne the destructive brunt of invasion and war.

Verse 17: Antiochus concluded a treaty favorable to his interests with Ptolemy, and as part of the agreement gave Ptolemy his daughter, Cleopatra, in marriage. (This is not the same as the later — and better-known — Cleopatra VII, queen of Egypt, and wife of Julius Caesar and later of Mark Antony.) A weakened Egypt was for all intents and purposes a Seleucid protectorate. In time, though, Cleopatra was to side with her husband against her father.

Verses 18–19: Antiochus next turned his attention to the Ptolemaic possessions along the coastlands of Asia Minor, and by 195 BC they were his. He then crossed over into Thrace, the land north of Greece. He expected with this action to have all the Greek city states side with him against the Romans, who had been relentlessly extending their influence eastward. But only the Greeks in southern Greece did, and the rest sided with the Romans. The Romans demanded that he free all the lands he had conquered in Asia Minor, which he refused to do. After being beaten in Battle at Thermopylae, he fled with the remnants of his army back to what is modern-day Turkey.

To his surprise, the Romans followed him. It was the first time they had crossed over into Asia. At Magnesia a decisive battle was fought. Hannibal, the famed Carthaginian general, was Antiochus’s advisor, but even with an army twice the size of Rome’s, Antiochus’s army was annihilated. Antiochus fled, and by the Treaty of Apamea he renounced all his possessions west of the Taurus Mountains in central Turkey. He also had to pay an indemnity of 15,000 talents spread over 12 years, surrender his fleet, hamstring his war elephants, and send hostages to Rome, including his son Antiochus Epiphanes.

And so he retreated to his own land, where he was reportedly killed by an enraged mob while leading a group of soldiers in a raid on the treasury of a pagan temple.

Verse 20: Seleucus IV Philopator inherited the kingdom and spent most of his reign raising tribute in order to pay the indemnity to the Romans. Although his father had favored the Jews, Philopator, in his quest for money, even raided the temple at Jerusalem. Before he was assassinated, he secured the release of his brother from being a hostage in Rome in exchange for his own son, Demetrius.

Verse 21: The next inheritor of the Seleucid throne was Antiochus Epiphanes. He was on his way home from Rome when he heard the news of his brother’s murder and that a usurper had taken the reins of power. However, with the help of others Antiochus overthrew the usurper, but instead of proclaiming his nephew king, which would have been the rightful succession, he left him to languish in Rome and eventually ascended the throne instead.

Much of what follows in this chapter can be made to fit the character and actions of Antiochus Epiphanes, or “Epimanes” (the Madman), as his critics called him. He was certainly a vile person as far as the Jews were concerned. He sacked Jerusalem twice, killed tens of thousands of Jews, banned the worship of Jehovah, was said to have slain a pig in the Holy of Holies, thus defiling the temple, and erected an altar to Zeus Olympios in the temple environs. His cruel and tyrannical rule provoked the Jewish Maccabee rebellion, which eventually led to the independence of Judea for a time.

He also prosecuted the war against Egypt, capturing several key cities and the king, Ptolemy VI. In fact, the only significant part of Egypt not to fall into his hands was the capital, Alexandria. He made a great show of being the Egyptian king’s protector and benefactor, all the while looting whatever he could. He invaded several times and was finally forced to withdraw for good at the threat of Roman intervention.

However, although much in the verses from 21 onwards can be applied to Antiochus Epiphanes, some things definitely cannot. Antiochus didn’t come in peaceably and seize the kingdom; instead he killed the usurper, and first acted as regent for another of his nephews, whom he killed a few years later in order to assume the throne himself. And he didn’t disperse the loot and plunder of his campaigns to anyone but himself. He also was master of Cyprus after his fleet captured it, so it seems no ships of Cyprus came against him. The Holy Covenant itself remains to a large extent a mystery up to this time, and if there was a prince of that covenant during his reign, the identification of that person remains a mystery also.

And the final blow to Epiphanes being this man was delivered by Jesus in His sermon on the signs of the times in which He clearly states, “When you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (Matthew 24:15), as a future event, not a past one as would be necessary if Epiphanes had fulfilled it. So although he was a type of the “King of the North” described, we need to look for another.

What does the rest of this chapter tell us about this king?

He is vile, he uses peace and intrigue to obtain the “throne,” he also fights at least five wars, he is deceitful, he rises to power with a small number of people, he disperses the plunder to his followers, he works against the Holy Covenant, he defiles the Jewish temple (sanctuary), stops Jewish religious rituals (daily sacrifices), and places the “abomination of desolation.”

He corrupts people, he attacks those who believe in God, he claims to be greater than God and blasphemes Him. He worships a strange god of fortresses, and doesn’t care about women.

He enters the Glorious Land (Israel), plants the “tents of his palace” between the seas and Mount Moriah, and then he comes to his end.

Where have we heard some of these things before? In chapters 7, 8, and 9! And as we know from those chapters, the person they were talking about doing such things was the Antichrist.

From chapter 7 we read that he speaks against God, he persecutes the saints, and he subdues kings.

In chapter 8 we are told that he enters the Glorious Land, he attacks God’s people, he exalts himself as God, he stops the daily sacrifices, he is fierce, and he uses cunning, deceit, and sinister schemes.

And in chapter 9 we find out that he confirms a covenant, breaks it, stops the daily sacrifice, and then makes things desolate by means of an enigmatic abomination right to the end.

Even though we get more information in this chapter, there are enough charac-teristics, actions, and demeanor of this King of the North that line up with what we are told of the Antichrist in previous chapters that make it safe to say that the King of the North from verse 21 on is the coming Antichrist.

We cannot, from this point on, show from history what this vile King of the North who doesn’t have the honor of royalty has done, because all of this is in the future (for now), but we can get a general idea what he does.

Verses 21–22: One prominent thing is that he is engaged in a lot of wars. First, however, he comes in at least giving the impression he is predisposed to peace before he seizes the kingdom in what could be a coup, either political or military, or he takes advantage of some crisis, possibly an economic one, to gain control. Then those who oppose him are swept aside, perhaps in a war, including, it seems, the “prince of the covenant.”

There is a school of thought that perhaps verse 22 intended to say that “and he also is the prince of the covenant.” In chapter 9 of Daniel it says of the Antichrist that “he shall make a covenant.” So if it is the Antichrist’s covenant, then it would seem he is the prince (or principal guarantor) of that covenant. When the covenant is made and then broken, we will know the answer to this.

Verse 23: In chapter 9, we read that the Antichrist confirms the seven-year covenant and halfway through he breaks it, and in this verse we read that after he makes a league, most likely referring to the same treaty or covenant, he works deceitfully. He could already at this point be working to undermine the covenant or in some way be deceitful about his true intentions. And, it seems, he does all this with either with a “small number of people” or “a small people,” as the Hebrew B=m^ufÁ (transliterated as me` at) is translated in the King James Version. This could mean that the Antichrist rises to power through his popularity with the “small” or poor people of the world, the masses, due to his political and economic policies, or that he does it with the help of a “small” elite group of insiders.

Verse 24: This sounds like an unopposed invasion of some place where he disperses the spoil among his supporters — something his predecessors had never done — and for a while ponders attacking some strongholds.

Verses 25–27: Then a latter-day King of the South musters his army to fight him. Who this King of the South would be is unknown for now. But we can conjecture. The King of the South has a very great and mighty army. Obviously he is very powerful. Although it would seem he would be located geographically south of the King of the North, perhaps that is only indicative of where his armies are and not necessarily where his homeland is. In the days of the Cold War, many supposed that the conflict described in this verse was between the forces of the USSR and the USA. They were the two superpowers, and both had political and strategic designs on the Middle East — not to mention that they both wanted to control the region’s oil production.

At this time (2009) we have only one superpower, the USA. The USA is totally committed to Israel—encompassing the region over which the classical kings of the north and south warred and generally speaking the focus of biblical prophecies. If Israel was ever seriously threatened, the USA has unambiguously stated that it would immediately go to war on its behalf. But if the USA, and more specifically its president, is the King of the South, then what region does the King of the North, the Antichrist, rule over initially? Could it still be Russia, as once looked so certain?

We know that the little horn in Daniel 8 came out of one of the four Diadochi kingdoms. The Seleucids were the old kings of the north, and in fact, their realm and sphere of influence went as far north as the Caucasus Mountains. Until recently the countries in that region were part of the Russian Empire and its successor, the USSR. Today they are the modern countries of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, as well as parts of southern Russia.

In Ezekiel 38 we are told that a leader called “Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal” (Ezekiel 38:2), “will come from your place out of the far north” (Ezekiel 38:15), with many allies “in the latter years [and] come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel” (Ezekiel 38:8).

John used the name Gog in the book of Revelation as a name for Satan, so it could also be applied to the Antichrist, who is the Devil incarnate. And the “latter years” or “latter days” is often used in the Bible to identify events surrounding Jesus’ second return.

“Rosh” is rendered “Ros” in some Bible versions, and Ros is the name given to the Scandinavians who settled in the Volga River Valley in the ninth century AD , who gave their name to the land we now know as Russia. Although Moscow wasn’t to be founded till many centuries later, it sounds similar to Meshech, and Tubal sounds somewhat like Tobolsk, the historic capital of Siberia.

Perhaps this similarity in names can be dismissed as coincidental, but when all of these things are pieced together, it does build a case for the Antichrist to arise from Russia. However, it doesn’t totally preclude the other three areas that were the old kingdoms of Alexander’s successors, namely Greece, Turkey, and Egypt. Egypt has been alluded to by some modern-day prophets and prophecies as having some strong connection to the Antichrist. When these events unfold we will know.

For all the troubles Russia has experienced over the last 20 years or so since the collapse of the USSR, it is still the second-ranking military power in the world. Its nuclear weapons may be rusty, but they can still make a mighty big bang. Its army may seem to be only a shadow of its former self, but even that shadow is still a formidable force. And while in the 1990s Russia’s economy was in shambles and the country was largely dismissed as irrelevant, its economy is now growing strongly, and with a strongman at the helm it is asserting itself considerably in both the European and international political theatres.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the USA has been considered the world’s only superpower. But with military setbacks and failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, a disastrous foreign policy that has alienated much of the rest of the world, and an economy built on government and consumer debt which is now in recession, the U.S. is looking less “super” by the day. And with the rise of China, India, the European Union, and a resurgent Russia, the world is now much more multipolar than it was 10 or 15 years ago when the USA’s position at the top looked unassailable.

The King of the South loses to the King of the North because some of those closest to him “destroy” him, and his army takes a thorough beating. At peace negotiations both these kings’ hearts are bent on evil, and they lie in whatever agreements they negotiate.

Verse 28: As the Antichrist and his army return to his home, inflicting damage on the land through which they pass, he decides that he has had enough of the “holy covenant.” It doesn’t seem that he breaks it yet, as that comes later in verse 31, but its days are numbered as far as he is concerned.

Verses 29–30: He is on the move south again in what sounds like another invasion. But this time the opposition is stronger. Ships from Cyprus, or more likely from the direction of Cyprus, come against him. The U.S. Navy is perhaps the most formidable wing of its armed services, able to project American power into the far corners of the world. So if this is a war, it seems the Antichrist is thwarted for the moment, and he retreats. He is now very angry with the covenant, and he is in collusion with others who are ready to scrap it.

Verse 31: At this point, with an armed force he enters the “sanctuary fortress.” In fact, they defile it, which by inference means it is a holy place. In chapter 9 Daniel also referred to the sanctuary, which is another name for the temple, which will eventually be destroyed by the Antichrist, but that must come a little later because he has plans for its use. The Muslims call this spot Al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), and the Jews call it the Temple Mount, and it is on top of Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Here he breaks the covenant and places the Abomination of Desolation in the environs of the rebuilt Jewish temple. This is the beginning of the Great Tribulation and the last half of the Antichrist’s seven-year reign. From this point on, unholy war is waged against the believers in God. (For more details on the Abomination of Desolation read the chapter by that name in The Rise and Fall of the Antichrist.)

Verses 32–35: He corrupts those who do wickedly against the covenant, the rejecters of its provisions, and most specifically those provisions which have to do with religious freedom and tolerance. Just as in chapters 7 and 8, these verses state that he is fighting the believers in God, the holy people.

Yet for all the opposition, those who know God are going to be strong and do exploits. Those who have studied God’s Word and are spiritually prepared will understand the whys and wherefores of what is happening, and therefore they will instruct those who don’t understand what’s going on.

But some will be killed by sword and fire (possibly alluding to explosions, such as from bombs, or even gunfire), and some will be captured and their goods plundered. But even this “fall” has benefits, because it will refine and purify those who know and love God. And they will find help among those who may not share the same beliefs but who do recognize the Antichrist and his world government as evil. However, as in countries today that are under totalitarian rule, some who pretend to be their friends and offer them help will in fact be government informers.

Verse 36: So the Antichrist King of the North glories in his splendor, magnifying himself above all gods, speaking blasphemy against the real God. Paul writes in his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, that this “man of sin … the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, … sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3–4).

In Revelation we find out why his megalomania has intensified to this degree. There, this King of the North is depicted as the seventh head on an indescribably brutal and despicable beast. But this head “had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast” (Revelation 13:3). This head was dead, killed, but somehow in some marvelous “miracle” of science, or perhaps just through some infernal demonic intervention, it has come back to life. If we thought that the King of the North was bad enough before, he is now infinitely worse. He is not just a wicked man in league with the Devil, he is now the Devil incarnate.

Revelation 13 goes on to say, “So they worshiped the dragon [Satan] who gave authority to the Beast; and they worshiped the Beast, saying, ‘Who is like the Beast? Who is able to make war with him?’’ And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for 42 months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation” (Revelation 13:4–7).

He is given authority over all the nations of the world and can make war on the godly, but just because he is granted this authority does not mean he will be that successful at it. There will be many nations fighting him right through to his bitter end.

Verse 37: He doesn’t honor the God of his fathers. It is obvious from this that the Antichrist descends from those of a religious heritage. Some speculate that this verse could indicate that the Antichrist comes from a Jewish heritage because of the term used for God in the original. It is the Hebrew word ‘elohiym, which is often specifically used to mean the supreme God and is distinct from ‘elowahh, used in the rest of this passage to denote a deity. The Bible translators make this distinction by capitalizing God in “God of his fathers.” And as is corroborated in 2 Thessalonians and Revelation, this monster man exalts himself above all gods.

And he either doesn’t like women, is not attracted to them, has no inclination to listen to what they want him to do, or he is a homosexual. We won’t know till he arises how this fits, but when he does, it will be apparent.

Verses 38–39: But he is really into honoring “a god of fortresses.” The King James Bible renders this as “god of forces.” Either way, it sounds like a warlike deity, and as we have already noted, he thinks that he is greater than any god, as well as God Himself. Could this god be referring to himself, with him being worshiped in the form of the Abomination of Desolation which he has had placed in the temple fortress? Revelation 13 tells us that the false prophet of the Beast — his number two man — “causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first Beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the Beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the Beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the Image of the Beast, that the Image of the Beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast to be killed” (Revelation 13:12–15).

Is this image the god of fortresses? Is it also the Abomination of Desolation? Is this the foreign god which he shall acknowledge and advance the glory of, by investing it with gold, silver, precious stones, and pleasant things? It certainly sounds likely.

Verses 40–43: And at the time of the end, right towards the end of the Antichrist’s wicked rule, the King of the South comes again to attack him. And then the King of the North comes against him with everything he has. Compare this to Ezekiel 38–39 and the invasion of Gog, which we covered earlier. He passes all the way down to Egypt, apparently skirting the lands of Edom, Moab, and Ammon (modern-day Jordan), and the prominent people of that area are spared. And somehow Ethiopians and Libyans are involved in his invasion forces. Ezekiel 38 also names the Ethiopians and Libyans being involved with the armies of Magog, as well as Persians and the people from the tribes of Gomer and Torgamah, whom we cannot precisely identify.

Verse 44–45: From the previous verses it seems that he has led his forces into Egypt, but now news from the east and the north troubles him. If you look north and east from Egypt, you head straight to Israel. In great fury he heads out to destroy and annihilate. He places his headquarters in the region between the seas, in the area of Mount Zion, Jerusalem, which he had already conquered and where he had established the Abomination of Desolation we read about earlier.

There are three seas in that area — the Mediterranean, of course, and also the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. And it is in that region of modern-day Israel that the Antichrist finally meets his end in a terrific battle, which we learn more about by turning to the book of Revelation.

In Revelation 16 we also read of war coming from the east. In the middle of the horrific plagues of the wrath of God that are inflicted upon the Antichrist and his followers we are told: “Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. … And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon” (Revelation 16:12–14,16).

Har Megiddo, rendered in English Bibles as “Armageddon,” is a hill situated over the ruins of the ancient city of Megiddo in the Valley of Jezreel in northern Israel. It is about 25 kilometers east of the Israeli port city of Haifa. It is geographically between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Galilee, and is about 100 kilometers north of Jerusalem. Revelation states that it is the gathering place of armies for the battle of the great day of God Almighty, which we commonly call the Battle of Armageddon. However, this battle is not confined to Armageddon, but also rages around Jerusalem. It is a battle of monstrous proportions that is fought initially between the Antichrist’s forces and his earthly opponents. But at some point in this battle the Lord descends from Heaven with His supernatural armies to wipe out the Antichrist and his bestial forces and deliver those he has been fighting against. (For a thorough treatment of this event, read “Armageddon,” chapter 11 in The Rise and Fall of the Antichrist.)And so we come to this chapter’s end, but the heavenly messenger is not yet finished. There is more to come in chapter 12.

 

OT 7/31/20 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.8 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. 9 He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.(Judges 14:1-9) NIV

NT 32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two,[a] they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.(Hebrews 11:32-40) ESV

*Samson’s life is one of contradiction. He was a man of great physical strength yet displayed great moral weakness. He was a judge for 20 years and “a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth” (Judges 13:5), yet he continually broke the rules of a Nazirite. The Spirit of God came upon him many times, giving him great strength to fight the Philistines, the oppressors of the Israelites. This in spite of the fact that Samson was a womanizer and a vengeful man. Samson’s life illustrates the necessity of saying “no” to fleshly temptation, God’s use of even flawed, sinful men to accomplish His will, the consequences of sin, and the mercy of God.

The book of Judges then jumps ahead in Samson’s story to his search for a wife. He wanted to marry a Philistine woman despite his parents’ protests and in violation of God’s law against intermarriage with pagans. His mother and father accompanied Samson to Timnah to make the arrangements for his betrothal. On the way a lion attacked Samson. “The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands” (Judges 14:6). Later, Samson passed by the carcass of the lion and found it filled with a honeycomb, which he ate. This was a violation of the Nazirite law: “Throughout the period of his separation to the Lord he must not go near a dead body” (Numbers 6:6). Samson seemed to know he had done wrong because, when he gave the honey to his parents, “he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass” (Judges 14:9).*(gotquestions.org)

July 30

Promise of Future Meeting

I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice. (John 16:22)

Surely He will come a second time, and then, when He sees us and we see Him, there will be rejoicings indeed. Oh, for that joyous return! But this promise is being daily fulfilled in another sense. Our gracious Lord has many “agains” in His dealings with us. He gave us pardon, and He sees us again and repeats the absolving word as fresh sins cause us grief. He has revealed to us our acceptance before God, and when our faith in that blessing grows a little dim, He comes to us again and again and says, “Peace be unto you,” and our hearts are glad.

Beloved, all our past mercies are tokens of future mercies. If Jesus has been with us, He will see us again. Look upon no former favor as a dead and buried thing, to be mourned over; but regard it as a seed sown, which will grow, and push its head up from the dust, and cry, “I will see you again.” Are the times dark because Jesus is not with us as He used to be? Let us pluck up courage; for He will not be long away. His feet are as those of a roe or young hart, and they will soon bring Him to us. Wherefore let us begin to be joyous, since He saith to us even now, “I will see you again.”

(Faith Checkbook)

JULY 29, 2020

The Waters of God’s Word

By William B. McGrath

In Psalm 27 we read that King David considered it his principal joy, his top priority in life, to be able to gaze on the beauty of the Lord. Back then, he would go into the beautiful tabernacle where the artifacts symbolizing God’s intervention on behalf of His people were kept. Today we have a place just as beautiful and amazing to go to; we have His Word in its fullness, and His Holy Spirit dwelling within us to speak to our hearts personally.

People have testified to the fact that, although they had heard so much about the Bible and had read it off and on for many years since childhood, after having received Jesus and His forgiveness for their sins, the Bible then came alive to them in a unique way. The Bible becomes a book much different than any other, a book with inexhaustible truth to meditate on, a book that can sometimes seem to have Someone living in its pages, so to speak, imparting much more than what is on the printed page.

Each time you read a Bible passage, things old and new can be discovered. Here’s one example of a Bible account that I reflected on:

The story of Naaman, in 2 Kings chapter 5, is about the great royal captain of the Syrian army who had success, position, wealth, and high esteem. But he had leprosy, which isolated him and caused the grandeur that he had worked so long to attain to fade and lose its value.

His wife had a young Hebrew slave girl who had been taken captive through the conquests of his army. This girl mentions to her mistress: “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”¹

Naaman has money, position, and is highly respected, so he acts accordingly and first goes to his king, the king of Syria, explaining why he wishes to see the prophet in Samaria. The king of Syria then sends a letter to the king of Israel to explain why Naaman would like to make a trip there. The king of Israel is very upset, as he does not wish to be responsible for the outcome.

Naaman sets out with his royal band to find Elisha in Samaria, prepared to pay a large sum of money and hopefully have a glorious healing event. Naaman is doing things according to the culture of his great country, and he plans on approaching the God of Israel in this customary, royal manner. He thought the king of Israel would command Elisha to cure him, and that surely the God of Israel would grant the petition upon seeing the large payment and recognizing Naaman’s importance on the social ladder.

But when Naaman and his company finally arrive at Elisha’s house, a servant comes out to meet him instead of the prophet, and the servant tells him to go to the Jordan River and wash seven times. To Naaman, this is an insult. He is prepared to pay a great price, and he is a top dignitary; to be met by a servant giving instructions is unacceptable. He no doubt envisioned the prophet Elisha himself coming out and honoring him with some sort of elaborate ceremony.

He leaves angry, but one of his own servants, who had come on the journey, suggests to him that he at least try to comply, to wash seven times in the Jordan, to find out if it might work. Naaman calms down, humbles himself, heads to the Jordan River and washes seven times and is marvelously healed!

In his book Counterfeit Gods, Timothy Keller tells us that this well-known Bible story is chock-full of meaningful lessons for our contemporary society. Individual success, high achievement, position, and economic status are instilled by our culture as top priorities—all the things Naaman had going for him. Naaman’s life and mentality revolved in this culture and he had done well for himself. He thought he should use his special connections and his wealth to approach Elisha and the Hebrew God. But he found out that the true God of the universe is “not an extension of culture, but a transformer of culture, not a controllable but a sovereign Lord … whose salvation cannot be earned, only received.”²

We, like Naaman, may also hold the subtle desire of wanting God to put on some great show for us when we seek Him for salvation or answers to our fervent prayers. He will sometimes do astounding things, but not always. As this story brings out, He will often request that we do the simple, humble thing. Naaman was told to “go wash,” and at first that felt like an insult to him, an affront to his pride and status. Today we’re told to wash ourselves in the water of His Word.³ Such a simple thing that anyone can do it, and as with Naaman, it brings about marvelous results and is a thorough means of inner healing.

When we return again and again to His Word, it becomes our main joy, and then naturally, our top priority. Just as it was for King David, going to the temple and gazing on the beauty of the Lord, meditating on God for who He is, for all He does. This was the one activity in David’s life that he would never neglect, as he found such joy and fulfillment there. And so it can be for all of us, as we return again and again to our living room, or wherever it may be, to gaze on His Word and commune with His presence. When we go through hardship, when we stumble along our walk of life, when we suffer great disappointment, this is the one recourse that comes through for us over and over again, to sustain us.

When Naaman did go down to the Jordan and wash “according to the saying of the man of God … his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.” And Jesus tells us, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” His Word cleanses and regenerates our spirits. And through the years, as we gaze more deeply and come to enjoy it more fully and understand it more completely, our assurance and faith gradually grow stronger. This simple thing, going to His Word, changes our motivations, our identity, our views, and our actions.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good. … And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. … Rivers of living water. … Waters to swim in. … Come ye to the waters … hearken diligently unto me … and let your soul delight itself in fatness. … There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God. … For the Lamb shall lead them unto living fountains of waters.”⁴

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¹ 2 Kings 5:2–3.

² Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods, Chapter Four, “The Seduction of Success.”

³ See John 8:31, Ephesians 5:26, Titus 3:5, Psalm 119.

⁴ Excerpts from Psalm 34:8, Revelation 22:17, John 7:38, Ezekiel 47:5, Isaiah 55:1–2; Psalm 46:4; Revelation 7:17.

JULY 28, 2020

Biblical Charity

A compilation

Audio length: 12:05
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The Greek word ‘agape’ is translated both as ‘charity’ and ‘love’ in many places in the New Testament in the KJV. What is the difference?

Some form of the word charity is found in the Bible 29 times. All of these references are in the New Testament. In fact, the word does not occur in any form in the Bible until the book of Romans. It is definitely a New Testament word. Charity is found 9 times in 1 Corinthians 13, which makes it the Charity Chapter in the Bible…

Today, people often think of charity as nothing more than a giving of money for some good cause. However, the Bible strongly contrasts the charity it proposes to the misunderstood charity of giving funds. 1 Corinthians 13:3 states, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” According to this verse, it is possible to give all your goods to feed the poor and yet not have charity. Therefore, the giving of funds is not biblical charity…

Charity specifically refers to the love that we have toward other men. Paul stresses that we are to walk “charitably” toward our weaker brothers.¹ He praised the Thessalonians because “the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth.”² In 1 Peter 4:8–9, Peter told the believers, “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging.”

John encouraged the saints, “Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers; which have borne witness of thy charity before the church.”³ In all of these passages, charity describes the love of the saints for others. Most of the time, it refers to other believers: toward each other, among yourselves, to the brethren. In one case,⁴ it includes strangers. But in them all, God is referring to the special love that believers should have for others.

There are plenty of passages that speak of the importance of love in general, but the Bible speaks of charity to point us to a specific kind of love. Charity is the love toward others that suffers long with them and is kind,⁵ that does not behave unseemly, seek to get its own way, or is easily provoked⁶; that rejoices not in the iniquity of others⁷; that bears, believes, hopes, and endures.⁸ It is the grace that proves the believer to be mature in his faith and practice. May the Lord give us all more charity.—David Reagan⁹

The highest form of love

Charity, in Christian thought, the highest form of love, signifying the reciprocal love between God and man that is made manifest in unselfish love of one’s fellow men. St. Paul’s classical description of charity is found in the New Testament.¹⁰ In Christian theology and ethics, charity (a translation of the Greek word agapē, also meaning “love”) is most eloquently shown in the life, teachings, and death of Jesus Christ. St. Augustine summarized much of Christian thought about charity when he wrote: “Charity is a virtue which, when our affections are perfectly ordered, unites us to God, for by it we love him.”…

Although the controversies of the Reformation dealt more with the definition of faith than with either hope or charity, the Reformers identified the uniqueness of God’s agāpe for man as unmerited love; therefore, they required that charity, as man’s love for man, be based not upon the desirability of its object but upon the transformation of its subject through the power of divine agāpe.—Encyclopedia Britannica¹¹

Agape love

There are a few words that are translated into English as love, but which have different meanings in the original Greek of the New Testament. One of these Greek words is eros, which expresses the “being in love” feeling as well as sexual love, and is not used in the New Testament. Another word translated as love is phileo, which is used for fondness, a close bond of deep friendship, love for fellow human beings, compassion, and brotherly love. A third word is storge, which relates to the love and affection people have for members of their family, especially parents for their children.

The fourth and the most commonly used word for love in the New Testament is agape. As used in Scripture, it means the love of God. For example, in 1 John 4:8 when it says God is love, agape is the original Greek word. Everything God does is motivated by and flows from His love. Agape also refers to the love we have for God,¹² and the Christlike love we are to show others.

When we read about love (agape) in the Gospels and Epistles, we see love which chooses to put the needs of others before self, which accepts being inconvenienced, which voluntarily suffers for the benefit of someone else while not expecting to receive anything in return. It is a love that shows goodwill, faithfulness, commitment, and strong character. It is the love that Jesus displayed and that motivated Him to lay down His life so that we could live with Him forever. Agape love is the sacrificial love that Jesus manifested and that we are called to imitate.

In the King James Version, the term agape is often translated as “charity,” which helps us understand that this love is a giving, unselfish love. It does to others those things that you would want done for you. The call to imitate Jesus’ love is a call to love not only those we are close to and comfortable with, or those whom we think deserve our love. It means loving those we don’t feel are deserving; who think, believe, and act in ways we don’t agree with. After all, Jesus told us to love our enemies and those who wrong or mistreat us.

The apostle Paul put skin on love (agape) when he defined what love is and does and how it is manifested in 1 Corinthians 13.—Peter Amsterdam

Esteeming others better than self

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”¹³

This is a perfect definition of charity found in the Bible. Again, it doesn’t necessarily mean money has to be given (although that’s certainly included). The fact is, it’s far greater than just handing out money or tithing—it goes deep into our hearts. If we are a charitable person, we will start caring for other people more than we care for ourselves. We will start wanting to listen to other people’s troubles more than we like to speak about our own. In other words, to be charitable according to the Bible is to be a sacrificial giver of every part of our life, from our money to our time.

To see what charity looks like in the Bible, look no further than Jesus Christ. It is through his life that you see the epitome of charity. He did not worry about his own life, career, or popularity. What he did care about, however, was people. In John 15:13, Jesus even claimed: “greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” That is the greatest charity known to man, and Jesus performed it by dying on the cross for all of us. Love is what prompted his charity. Without love, charity is nothing more than a good deed done for some type of selfish reason (1 Corinthians 13 showcases that beautifully). So, if you really want to know what the biblical definition of charity is, look to Jesus!—Michael Krauszer¹⁴

Published on Anchor July 2020. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso.
Music by Michael Dooley.

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¹ Romans 14:13–15.

² 2 Thessalonians 1:3.

³ 3 John 1:5–6.

⁴ 3 John 1:5–6.

⁵ 1 Corinthians 13:4.

⁶ 1 Corinthians 13:5.

⁷ 1 Corinthians 13:6.

⁸ 1 Corinthians 13:7.

⁹ http://www.learnthebible.org/charity-or-love.html.

¹⁰ 1 Corinthians 13.

¹¹ https://www.britannica.com/topic/charity-Christian-concept

¹² Mark 12:30.

¹³ Philippians 2:3–4 NKJV.

¹⁴ https://www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/2014/11/12/what-does-charity-mean-in-the-bible-a-biblical-definition-of-charity.

JULY 27, 2020

The Royal Road to Happiness

By Virginia Brandt Berg

Audio length: 6:20
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Today we’re talking about a verse of scripture that has such a world in it that we couldn’t begin to exhaust it! God’s Word says, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”¹ The words happy and do mean so much in this passage.

Some time ago I was reading an article by Mr. Glassen in Forbes magazine, and this is an excerpt from it: “Everyone is after the same thing in life, and that is happiness. Just to have a good time seems to be the purpose of life to some people. Unfortunately, most of them blunder until their short lives are nearly over before they find out what a good time really is. … Eventually, after having plenty of troubles, folks learn that success and happiness does not mean grabbing everything we want.”

Herbert Glassen says it takes a long time to find happiness, and you have to go about it in the right way. I certainly agree that happiness is one of the things that we all want. But happiness is to many only a holy grail, that if they miss finding it, they feel they’ve missed the supreme purpose in life!

There’s a little poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox called “I’ve Lost the Road to Happiness,” and it goes something like this:

I’ve lost the road to happiness,
Does anyone know it, pray?
I was dwelling there
When the morn was fair,
But somehow I wandered away.

I saw rare treasure
And scenes of pleasure
And ran to pursue them, when lo,
I had lost the road to happiness
And knew not whither to go.

Now I take the liberty to paraphrase the next verse:

Have you lost the road to happiness?
Oh, I can lead you back.
Take the road marked obedience,
To the right, up God’s own track.

So where can you find real happiness? It’s found by obeying God! The mother of happiness is plain old-fashioned obedience, and everyone who has been blessed in Jesus Christ has followed the path of obedience.

Joy is always the result of obedience. God’s Word says, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” I want you to remember that verse. It’s true! A will yielded to God brings rest of spirit, a heart right with God brings joy, and a mind stayed on God brings peace.

Someone once said that perfect obedience would be perfect happiness if we had perfect confidence in the One we are obeying! Isn’t that a wonderful thought? It’s reasonable, too, for if the heart is right with God and you’re walking in obedience to His Word, He can then fulfill all of His wonderful promises, and who would not find happiness then?

Many people think that they are unhappy because of conditions and circumstances around them, but that isn’t it. Unhappiness is a result of what’s wrong in the heart! People are at war with themselves because they are out of harmony with God.

Christ did not teach that the quest for happiness should be abandoned, but that you must go about the right way of finding it. Christ taught happiness, but He made it very plain that there are wrong ways of pursuing it. He knew every phase of human longing for happiness and that the wrong pursuit of it was one of the world’s greatest problems.

Jesus said, “I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man will take from you.”² He said, “Ask and receive, that your joy may be full.”³ And He promised that one of the first fruits of the Spirit would be joy.⁴ There are so many scriptures along this line to prove that joy comes to Christians that we don’t have time to mention them all.

But this kind of joy is entirely different from the gaiety that the world calls happiness. This strong confident message of happiness runs triumphantly all through the Word of God, so don’t think that when you become a Christian it’s some long-faced affair, all fenced-in and hard and dark.

Christ set forth the fundamentals of happiness, and told us that we should have joy, and “ask and receive, that your joy may be full.” And He revealed to the world that they are on the wrong path to happiness if they just strive for happiness as a goal in itself, because that’s just to chase a shadow and never catch the substance at all.

Joy and happiness are not things from the outside that you can pour into your heart, but rather they spring up from within the heart, as a God-given miracle resulting from yielding to the will of God and putting your life utterly in God’s hands.

Is this an unthought-of way of happiness to you? Does it seem surreal that you can find happiness by making Jesus Christ the master of your life? Tens of thousands of people are today testifying that they found happiness in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. He can do it for you. He wants to do it for you!

Are you dissatisfied, distraught, and frustrated? Why not give God a chance at your heart? Before you again start up some wrong trail to find just another dead-end of dissatisfaction or frustration, why not read God’s Word? You’ll find there what the will of God is for you. You’ll find God’s way for you.

Is it strange that God can fully satisfy your soul? Oh, He can! He’s still on the throne, and prayer changes things.

From a transcript of a Meditation Moments broadcast, adapted.
Published on Anchor July 2020. Read by Carol Andrews.

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¹ John 13:17.

² John 16:22.

³ John 16:24.

⁴ Galatians 5:22.

What does it mean that there is neither Jew nor Greek in Galatians 3:28?

*Question: “What does it mean that there is neither Jew nor Greek in Galatians 3:28?”

Answer: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28, ESV). This translation, along with the NASB, KJV, and NKJV, uses the phrase “Jew nor Greek.” The NIV translates it less literally as “Jew nor Gentile.” Either way, this verse relates a wonderful message concerning the unity we have in Christ

In New Testament times, Greek culture was dominant in the Roman Empire of which Israel was a part, so there was a basic distinction made between Jews and Greeks. (Greeks could refer to those who lived according to the practices of Greek culture, whether they were ethnically Greek or not. Today there are many non-Jews who are not Greeks and who do not follow Greek culture, so the word Gentile may give a better sense of what the passage is saying.) The Jews were the people of God, and the Greeks/Gentiles were not.

In addition to Jew and Greek, Galatians 3:28 lists two other contrasting pairs: male and female, and slave or free. When Paul says that “there is neither Jew or Greek,” male or female, or slave and free, we know that he is not speaking literally, for all of these types of people existed in Paul’s day as well as in our day (modern gender-bending notwithstanding). Paul is not saying that the differences do not exist but that, in Christ, they do not matter. Again, this is not an absolute statement that the differences have been completely abolished, as some interpret it, because the New Testament spends a good bit of time telling how men and women should act in their unique roles as men or women and of the proper behavior of slaves and masters, even Christian slaves and Christian masters (see Ephesians 5:21—6:9 and Colossians 3:18—4:1, for example). But within the context of the discussion of Galatians 3, these differences do not matter. When these differences are taken outside the context of Galatians 3, they might matter a great deal. Galatians 3:28 cannot be quoted in isolation to “prove” that there are or should be no differences.

For example, if a family is attending an amusement park, they may encounter different prices for different people: kids, teenagers, adults, teachers, students, senior citizens, military veterans, etc. However, on Tuesday everyone is admitted for the same low price. So, if the family approaches the ticket window on a Tuesday, and Grandma says to the ticket agent, “Don’t forget, I am a senior citizen,” the ticket agent might respond, “It doesn’t matter.” He is not attempting to be rude or say that all of the life experience that Grandma has accumulated is worthless. Nor is he saying that the aches and pains of age will not affect her today. What he is saying is that, within the context of the issue at hand—ticket prices—the fact that she is a senior citizen (or that Dad is a veteran or that Junior is a college student) does not matter; that is, those facts, as important as they may be in other contexts, simply do not affect the ticket prices on Tuesday. The distinctions do not matter.

Galatians 3:26–29 gives the fuller context: “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

The specific consideration is the identity of Abraham’s offspring, those who are children of God and eligible to inherit the promises God made to Abraham. It would be normal to think that Jews were Abraham’s descendants and thus the only ones eligible to receive the promises God, but Paul says that, in Christ, Greeks or Gentiles can also be Abraham’s children and heirs. It would be normal to think of men as heirs, because in that culture women generally did not inherit property. It would be normal to think that only free people could be heirs, because slaves did not inherit—they were given as an inheritance. However, Paul says that in Christ slaves, women, and Greeks can all be heirs to the promises of God.

In Christ, it doesn’t matter about your ethnic identity, your gender, or your station in life. If you are in Christ, you are one of God’s chosen people and you stand to inherit all that God has promised. It is only through Christ that anyone can inherit God’s kingdom (John 14:6). While there may still be ethnic, gender, and social distinctions that carry weight in other contexts, those distinctions do not affect one’s standing as a child of God by faith in Christ.

*(gotquestions.org)

Is the Coronavirus an End-time Biblical Plague?

Does the Book of Revelation predict the coronavirus? Is it one of the prophesied, end-time plagues? If so, does that mean that this is just a harbinger of much worse things to come?

There is no denying the seriousness of the virus.

As Bill Gates noted in the New England Journal of Medicine on February 28, “In the past week, Covid-19 has started behaving a lot like the once-in-a-century pathogen we’ve been worried about.” And even at this early stage, “Covid-19 has already caused 10 times as many cases as SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome] in a quarter of the time.”

And evangelical commentator Michael Snyder included the coronavirus in his “list of 10 plagues that are hitting our planet simultaneously.” The “plagues” were: 1) Armies Of Locusts; 2) Extremely Bizarre Weather Patterns; 3) Unprecedented Flooding; 4) Major Earthquakes; 5) Unusual Volcanic Eruptions; 6) The Coronavirus; 7) The African Swine Fever; 8) The H1N1 Swine Flu; 9) The H5N1 Bird Flu; 10) The H5N8 Bird Flu.

Does that suggest, then, that Covid-19 is one the end-time judgments described in Revelation?

Al Mohler noted that, “We are also reminded of Revelation 6:7-8 in which we read, When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” So I looked and behold a pale horse, and the name of him who sat on it was Death and Hades followed with him.’ That fourth horseman has often been associated with plague, with illness, with a violent death by means of this kind of disease, which we now identify primarily with deadly viruses spreading across the human population.”

But neither Mohler nor Snyder are suggesting that the virus is one of the final plagues of Revelation. And Gates is certainly not thinking in these terms.

To the contrary, the fact that Gates can describe Covid-19 as a “once-in-a-century pathogen” indicates that it is hardly an apocalyptic plague, no matter how deadly it may be.

As underscored by Robert Bartholomew in Psychology Today, “The Chinese Coronavirus Is Not the Zombie Apocalypse.”

He wrote, “I am not downplaying the seriousness of the new Coronavirus that has been spreading around the world. People are dying and every death is a tragedy. But it is not the end of civilization as we know it — contrary to some media outlets, which risk causing undue alarm and panic.”

In stark contrast, if the Book of Revelation does, indeed, describe a series of terrifying, end-time plagues, those plagues will mark the end of civilization as we know it, along with the ushering in of a glorious new age.

Again, I’m not minimizing the serious of the virus. And, certainly, “every death is a tragedy.” … But we minimize the intensity of end-time biblical prophecy by imagining this deadly virus to be an apocalyptic plague.

More importantly, we forget that biblical judgments are connected with clear words of warning. “Judgment is coming! Repent! Don’t let sin destroy you! Turn to God for mercy!” I did not hear such warnings in the months leading up to Covid-19.

Of course, Christian leaders have been sounding warnings like this for centuries, as did biblical prophets in the centuries before them.

But I personally believe that, as we approach the end of the age, the warnings will become much clearer, calling for specific change in light of specific prophecies, as opposed to a virus just popping up out of the blue.

To be sure, there are many biblical scholars who do not interpret Revelation in this way at all. In their minds, many of the events of the book already took place, described in the highly graphic language called “apocalyptic.” Others would argue that most of the events are yet future, but they are cloaked in symbolism and should not be taken literally.

My own understanding is that there will be massive upheaval before the end of the world, in the midst of which there will also be a mighty spiritual outpouring. But either way, what is clear to me is that we should not view the coronavirus as a prophesied, end-time plague.

Instead, we should view it in the same way we have viewed many other epidemics and pandemics in world history. They are tragic reminders of the broken state of our world and of the frailty of our race. And while doing all we can to prevent and combat the spread of Covid-19, we should pray for the mercy of God.

The final shaking will be far more intense than this.

Michael Brown holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a professor at a number of seminaries. He is the author of 25 books and hosts the nationally syndicated, daily talk radio show, the Line of Fire.

July 25

Nothing to Alarm Us

But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. (Daniel 12:13)

We cannot understand all the prophecies, but yet we regard them with pleasure and not with dismay. There can be nothing in the Father’s decree which should justly alarm His child. Though the abomination of desolation be set up, yet the true believer shall not be defiled; rather shall he be purified, and made white, and tried. Though the earth be burned up, no smell of fire shall come upon the chosen. Amid the crash of matter and the wreck of worlds, the Lord Jehovah will preserve His own.

Calmly resolute in duty, brave in conflict, patient in suffering, let us go our way, keeping to our road, and neither swerving from it nor loitering in it. The end will come; let us go our way till it does.

Rest will be ours, All other things swing to and fro, but our foundation standeth sure. God rests in His love, and, therefore, we rest in it. Our peace is, and ever shall be, like a river. A lot in the heavenly Canaan is ours, and we shall stand in it, come what may. The God of Daniel will give a worthy portion to all who dare to be decided for truth and holiness as Daniel was. No den of lions shall deprive us of our sure inheritance.(Faith Checkbook)

July 23

Absolutely No RemembranceAnd their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 10:17) According to this gracious covenant the Lord treats His people as if they had never sinned. Practically, He forgets all their trespasses. Sins of all kinds He treats as if they had never been, as if they were quite erased from His memory. O miracle of grace! God here doth that which in certain aspects is impossible to Him. His mercy worketh miracles which far transcend all other miracles.Our God ignores our sin now that the sacrifice of Jesus has ratified the covenant. We may rejoice in Him without fear that He will be provoked to anger against us because of our iniquities. See! He puts us among the children; He accepts us as righteous; He takes delight in us as if we were perfectly holy. He even puts us into places of trust; makes us guardians of His honor, trustees of the crown jewels, stewards of the gospel. He counts us worthy and gives us a ministry; this is the highest and most special proof that He does not remember our sins. Even when we forgive an enemy, we are very slow to trust him; we judge it to be imprudent so to do. But the Lord forgets our sins and treats us as if we had never erred. O my soul, what a promise is this! Believe it and be happy.(Faith Checkbook)

JULY 23, 2020

Everyone Will Have Their Chance

By David Brandt Berg

Audio length: 8:11
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The Christian Missionary Alliance had a lot of stories about people deep in the jungle and chieftains who had never heard of Jesus, never knew anything about the gospel and had never even seen a missionary, who cried out in their hearts for an answer to life and their sins. They just instinctively knew there was a God and they cried out to Him for help. They didn’t know what their hearts were yearning for, but of course it was salvation, and what they needed was to know the Lord.
There were many cases where the Lord spoke to them in their sleep or in a dream, or gave them a vision of a man whom they’d never seen and told them, “This man is going to give you the answer to your problems.” When the missionary showed up, the person recognized them from their dream.
This is similar to what Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment, experienced.¹ The Lord gave Cornelius a message that he should send to Joppa for a man called Peter, who would tell him the words of eternal life. The next day, He gave Peter a vision to prepare him to travel to Caesarea. Cornelius was a good man who treated his servants fairly and was trying to serve God, and he and all his household received the gospel and were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Missionaries reached some Buddhist and Muslim countries very early on and there were large numbers of people converted to Christianity. But there were even larger numbers of people who rejected the gospel and even killed the Christians, and stamped out the Christian faith in those countries. You may wonder why God let this happen. Perhaps He knows that they’ll have a chance in the next life and that this life is just a drop in the bucket of time, a momentary thing in the overall plan.
In the first chapter of John he says, “This is the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”² The light came into the world, but they rejected it. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”³ “He was in the world and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.”⁴
The condemnation or judgment of man is that the light has come into the world and people have rejected it. That passage indicates that everybody is going to be given a chance to hear or see or understand the gospel, to see the light of Jesus. Jesus is the light that lights every man who comes into the world.
Who would reject the Lord in the next life when they can see and know the truth? Who is not going to take a fire escape then when they can already see the fire? That’s why they won’t receive credit for believing when they see it and therefore know it and don’t need to have faith to believe it. They won’t be given as much credit as we who now having not seen have believed. As Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who having not seen have believed.”⁵
I believe that everybody who finally accepts the Lord, whether it’s in this life or the next, is going to be saved. But those who accept Him now by faith, without sight, without seeing the next world, but only by hearing about Him and believing, are more blessed. In this dispensation, this present age, faith comes by hearing, whereas in the next world, faith comes by sight.
The gifts of the Spirit are manifestations of the power of the next world, so in a sense they sometimes serve as a visible or audible proof of the power of God and the truth of the gospel. But most people still haven’t really seen it, except perhaps people who have had visions and dreams. The rule and the law that God has laid down now is that you must believe first and then you’ll see, and maybe not even till the next world will you see.⁶
There are people who even though they have seen, yet they will not believe. Jesus said that even though one were to come back from the dead, yet they will not believe. Their hearts are hardened, like the scribes and the Pharisees. He said, “They have Moses and the prophets,” but “even if one were to come back from the dead, yet they will not believe.”⁷ They saw people come back from the dead during Jesus’ time on earth. They saw the resurrection, or at least the healing of people who were raised from the dead, and they still didn’t believe.
There are people who are so hard of heart and rebellious and anti-God and anti-Christ that even if they see the power of God and see miracles and people rising from the dead, and even see the next world and the Millennium and the kingdom of God on earth, they will still rebel against God, just like Satan.
As for the millions who die every day, if they really are not to blame for not having heard the gospel themselves, and have never heard it or rejected it, I truly believe they’re going to get a chance in the next world. Jesus said that those who reject the Holy Spirit, “those that sin against the Holy Ghost will not be forgiven in this life, nor in the next.”⁸ That indicates there is forgiveness in the next world of some sins. But not for rejecting the Holy Ghost, meaning rejecting the conviction of the Spirit. In other words, they’ve had some chance of salvation and have rejected it. By some means the Holy Spirit has gotten through to them and they have rejected it, so they’ve had their chance in this life and they’re not going to be forgiven in this life nor the next.
The Bible tells us that Jesus went to visit the spirits in prison during His death time.⁹ From the time He was crucified till the time He was resurrected, He preached the gospel to the spirits in prison, and I believe that is referring to those who had not had a chance to hear the gospel. If some of them couldn’t have gotten saved, there wouldn’t have been any point in preaching to them.
In the New Testament, while Jesus was on the cross, He referred to a paradise.¹⁰ One of the criminals being crucified with Him asked Him to remember him when Jesus came into His kingdom. Jesus told him: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” In the parable Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man went straight to hell to his punishment, immediately. Lazarus, the poor beggar, went straight to some kind of paradise where Abraham was, and certainly that was some kind of paradise or heaven.¹¹ Obviously, some go to hell immediately because they don’t repent and don’t receive the gospel, and others go to either heaven or paradise or wherever the Lord has made provision for them.
There’s a chance for everybody, but no one deserves more than one chance. If they knowingly hear the message of the gospel of grace and willfully reject it in this life, they had their chance.
God will give everyone a chance! “This is the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” And “at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow,” even those under the earth.¹² Everybody gets their chance.

Originally published May 1987. Adapted and republished July 2020.
Read by Jon Marc.

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¹ Acts 10.

² John 1:9.

³ John 3:19.

⁴ John 1:10.

⁵ John 20:29.

⁶ See 2 Corinthians 5:7.

⁷ Luke 16:31.

⁸ Matthew 12:31–32.

⁹ Matthew 12:40; 1 Peter 3:19, 4:6; Ephesians 4:9.

¹⁰ Luke 23:43.

¹¹ Luke 16:19–25.

¹² Philippians 2:10.

Jesus—His Life and Message: A Family Dispute, True Blessedness, and Herod’s Threat

Throughout the Gospels there are a number of short, stand-alone accounts of things that Jesus and others said and did. Sometimes these events or sayings are only a few sentences long. In this article, and in some future ones, I will cover some of these short accounts or sayings. The sayings aren’t connected to one another, so each one will be in its own self-contained subsection.

A Family Dispute

At some point in Jesus’ ministry—we’re not told of the time or place of this incident—someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”¹ By calling Jesus “teacher,” the questioner addressed Jesus as one would a respected Jewish rabbi. Rabbis would sometimes settle issues regarding inheritances, because the regulations regarding them were found in the Old Testament law² and the rabbis were those who interpreted what Scripture taught.

It is likely that the man who was requesting Jesus’ help was the younger of two brothers. Because of his lower position within the household, he was looking for some outside assistance to convince his older brother to be more generous. There aren’t many details given, and it’s not clear if the older brother had refused to divide the inheritance or if the younger brother was asking Jesus to convince his sibling to be more generous by giving him a larger portion of the inheritance. What is clear, however, is that the man wasn’t asking Jesus to arbitrate between him and his brother, but rather he was directing Jesus toward the outcome he wanted, one which favored him over his brother.

But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?”³ Jesus refused to get involved and to make a judgment. Starting the sentence with “man” is understood as a rebuke. Jesus wasn’t appointed as an arbiter between the brothers in this personal dispute, and His overall mission wasn’t to settle personal disputes, but rather to bring people to God.

And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”⁴ Jesus made this statement not just to the one brother, but broadened it out to them, to all who were present. Covetousness is an intense desire for wealth or possessions, a greedy desire to have more. It’s mentioned a number of times in lists of sins throughout the New Testament.

Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness.⁵

They, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.⁶

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you … evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.⁷

As seen in the brother’s dissatisfaction, greed can bring about disagreement and discord. It can distort one’s outlook on life and what is important. In the book of Ephesians, a covetous person is called an idolater—one who worships and honors images, who worships something other than God. Greed is dangerous, and thus Jesus strongly warns to be on guard against it.

Jesus warned about covetousness because He knew that greed is a matter of the heart. The brother who wanted Jesus to intervene on his behalf knew that getting more of the inheritance would not only boost his financial standing but could also mean greater honor within the community, as landowners enjoyed a higher social status. Jesus wisely chose to avoid getting pulled into an internal family matter regarding finances.

At this point in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus told the parable of the rich fool, which also addresses the topic of greed. For more on this parable, see “The Stories Jesus Told: The Parable of the Rich Fool,” where it is covered in detail.

True Blessedness

After Jesus had spoken to a crowd of people about unclean spirits,⁸ a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”⁹

We’re not told why the woman cried out, blessing Jesus’ mother, but cry out she did. Since women were generally expected to be silent in the presence of men, speaking out like this in a mixed crowd was both brave and bold. Her statement was an expression of gratitude for His ministry, through which His mother was honored, since in those days a mother was valued in the accomplishments of her son.

Jesus’ response shows that He wasn’t looking for praise but rather for action, for people to respond to His ministry. In addressing the woman’s statement, He gave His own beatitude: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” He made the point that blessings come to those who obey God’s Word.

He wasn’t refuting the woman’s statement, but neither was He fully affirming it. Her statement was correct, but not complete, so He expressed what was most important in the life of believers: keeping God’s Word. One author explains,

An expanded translation of the sentence would read: “What you have said is true as far as it goes. But Mary’s blessedness does not consist simply in her relationship with me, but in the fact that she heard the word of God and kept it, which is where true blessedness lies.”¹⁰

Herod’s Threat

In the Gospel of Luke we read of an incident in which some Pharisees warned Jesus that His life was in danger. At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”¹¹ Herod Antipas was the tetrarch of Galilee, and he was the ruler who had John the Baptist beheaded. This incident likely occurred in northern Israel, either in Perea or Galilee.

Commentators have differing opinions regarding the motive of these Pharisees. One author writes,

These Pharisees were genuinely interested in Jesus’ welfare … some Pharisees were sympathetic to Jesus and the Christian movement and in this incident Jesus did not rebuke them. These Pharisees were in fact friendly.¹²

Another author states,

While this looks like a friendly attempt to help Jesus, it might be an expedient way to get Jesus out of the region without resorting to violence.¹³

A further author notes,

It is perhaps more likely that they were Herod’s witting or unwitting agents. After this experience with John the Baptist, the tetrarch may not have wanted the murder of another prophet on his conscience; but he did want to be rid of Jesus. So he used the Pharisees to pass on a death threat.¹⁴

In response to the Pharisees’ warning, Jesus said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.’”¹⁵ Calling someone a fox had a few different meanings. It could refer to a person of no significance, a deceiver, a cunning person, or a destroyer. It is likely that either deceiver or destroyer was intended, since Herod had murdered John the Baptist. Herod was the only person who Jesus is recorded as having treated with contempt.¹⁶ Later in this Gospel, when Herod wanted Jesus to perform a miracle, Jesus wouldn’t even speak to him.¹⁷ That Jesus instructs the Pharisees to “tell that fox …” indicates that they were in a position to pass on His reply, which would indicate that they had a cordial relationship with Herod.

There are differences of opinion regarding the phrase the third day. Was He speaking literally, stating that in three days He would go to Jerusalem? Was this a figurative way to express a day-by-day sequence of events, or was it referring to His resurrection? It is likely meant to be a figurative expression, that He would continue ministering to those in need and healing the sick for the time being, and then once that was done, He would go to Jerusalem in order to complete His ministry by dying on the cross.

“Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.”¹⁸ Jesus would eventually go to Jerusalem, as He knew that fulfilling His mission was connected to that city. He also knew that throughout the Old Testament, God’s prophets suffered and some perished.¹⁹ He understood that part of His role was functioning as a prophet, something which was also acknowledged by others.

The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”²⁰

Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.”²¹

Jesus had already predicted His death earlier in the Gospel of Luke. He had asked Peter,

“Who do you say I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”²² 

He also told His disciples,

Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.²³

Later in this Gospel He stated,

I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!²⁴

Jesus knew what was in store for Him, but He also knew that it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem; therefore, He could confidently state that He didn’t need to worry about Herod Antipas at that time, as He was safe until He traveled south to Jerusalem.

Note

Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

General Bibliography

Bailey, Kenneth E. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008.

Biven, David. New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus. Holland: En-Gedi Resource Center, 2007.

Bock, Darrell L. Jesus According to Scripture. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002.

Bock, Darrell L. Luke Volume 1: 1:1–9:50. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1994.

Bock, Darrell L. Luke Volume 2: 9:51–24:53. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1996.

Brown, Raymond E. The Birth of the Messiah. New York: Doubleday, 1993.

Brown, Raymond E. The Death of the Messiah. 2 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1994.

Carson, D. A. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1987.

Charlesworth, James H., ed. Jesus’ Jewishness, Exploring the Place of Jesus Within Early Judaism. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1997.

Chilton, Bruce, and Craig A. Evans, eds. Authenticating the Activities of Jesus. Boston: Koninklijke Brill, 1999.

Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Updated Edition. Hendrickson Publishers, 1993.

Elwell, Walter A., ed. Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988.

Elwell, Walter A., and Robert W. Yarbrough. Encountering the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.

Evans, Craig A. World Biblical Commentary: Mark 8:27–16:20. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2000.

Evans, Craig A., and N. T. Wright. Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009.

Flusser, David. Jesus. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 1998.

Flusser, David, and R. Steven Notely. The Sage from Galilee: Rediscovering Jesus’ Genius. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.

France, R. T. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.

Gnilka, Joachim. Jesus of Nazareth: Message and History. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997.

Green, Joel B. The Gospel of Luke. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997.

Green, Joel B., and Scot McKnight, eds. Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992.

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids: InterVarsity Press, 2000.

Guelich, Robert A. World Biblical Commentary: Mark 1–8:26. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1989.

Jeremias, Joachim. The Eucharistic Words of Jesus. Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1990.

Jeremias, Joachim. Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1996.

Jeremias, Joachim. Jesus and the Message of the New Testament. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002.

Jeremias, Joachim. New Testament Theology. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1971.

Jeremias, Joachim. The Prayers of Jesus. Norwich: SCM Press, 1977.

Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of John: A Commentary, Volume 1. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003.

Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of John: A Commentary, Volume 2. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003.

Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.

Lewis, Gordon R., and Bruce A. Demarest. Integrative Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.

Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976.

Manson, T. W. The Sayings of Jesus. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1957.

Manson, T. W. The Teaching of Jesus. Cambridge: University Press, 1967.

McKnight, Scot. Sermon on the Mount. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.

Michaels, J. Ramsey. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010.

Milne, Bruce. The Message of John. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993.

Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to John. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995.

Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1992.

Morris, Leon. Luke. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1988.

Ott, Ludwig. Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma. Rockford: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1960.

Pentecost, J. Dwight. The Words & Works of Jesus Christ. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981.

Sanders, E. P. Jesus and Judaism. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985.

Sheen, Fulton J. Life of Christ. New York: Doubleday, 1958.

Spangler, Ann, and Lois Tverberg. Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.

Stassen, Glen H., and David P. Gushee. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2003.

Stein, Robert H. Jesus the Messiah. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996.

Stein, Robert H. Mark. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.

Stein, Robert H. The Method and Message of Jesus’ Teachings. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994.

Stein, Robert H. The New American Commentary: Luke. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 1992.

Stott, John R. W. The Message of the Sermon on the Mount. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1978.

Talbert, Charles H. Reading the Sermon on the Mount. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004.

Williams, J. Rodman. Renewal Theology: Systematic Theology from a Charismatic Perspective. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.

Witherington, Ben, III. The Christology of Jesus. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990.

Witherington, Ben, III. The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001.

Wood, D. R. W., I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, and D. J. Wiseman, eds. New Bible Dictionary. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996.

Wright, N. T. After You Believe. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2010.

Wright, N. T. Jesus and the Victory of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996.

Wright, N. T. Matthew for Everyone, Part 1. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004.

Wright, N. T. The Resurrection of the Son of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.

Yancey, Philip. The Jesus I Never Knew. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995.

Young, Brad H. Jesus the Jewish Theologian. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1995.

By Peter Amsterdam

Many of us are familiar with the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:25–37. However, because we live in cultures very different from that of first-century Palestine, there are aspects of the story that we may not relate to. When we hear or read this parable, it doesn’t necessarily shock us or defy the status quo of today’s world. Yet the first-century listeners who heard Jesus tell this parable would have been taken aback by it. The message would have run contrary to their expectations and challenged their cultural boundaries.¹

The parable features several characters. Let’s take a look at the cast of characters in the order of their appearance.

The parable tells us very little about the first character, the man who was beaten and robbed, but it does provide one fact that is crucial to the story. He was stripped of his clothes and was half dead. He was lying on the ground, severely beaten and unconscious^.2

This is significant because people in the first century were easily identifiable by the style of clothes they wore and their language or accent. Because the beaten man had no clothes, it was impossible to tell his nationality. That he was unconscious and unable to speak made it impossible to identify who he was or where he was from.

The second character in the story is the priest. Jewish priests in Israel were the clergy who ministered within the temple in Jerusalem for one week at a time during a 24-week period. There are no details given about the priest in this story, but those who heard Jesus’ parable most likely assumed that he was returning to his home in Jericho after his week ministering in the temple.

The third character in the parable is the Levite. While all priests were Levites, not all Levites were priests. They were considered minor clergy, and like the priests, they served for two weeks twice a year.

The Samaritan: The Samaritans were a people who lived in the hill country of Samaria between Galilee in the north and Judea in the south. They believed in the first five books of Moses, but believed that God had ordained Mount Gerizim as the place to worship instead of Jerusalem.

In 128 BC, the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim was destroyed by the Jewish army. Between AD 6 and 7 some Samaritans scattered human bones in the Jewish temple, thus defiling it. These two events played a role in the deep animosity that existed between the Jews and Samaritans, evident within the New Testament. It was within this setting of cultural, racial, and religious animosity that Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan.

Our last character is the lawyer. While the lawyer isn’t part of the parable, it is because of the questions he asks Jesus that the parable is told. In New Testament times, a lawyer was the same as a scribe. They were specialists in religious law, interpreters and teachers of the laws of Moses. They examined the more difficult and subtle questions of the law and gave opinions. This lawyer’s motive for asking Jesus his questions might have been to begin a debate about the interpretation of Scripture. It also might have been because he was a spiritual seeker.

The parable

Now that we are more familiar with the cast of characters, let’s look at what transpired when Jesus was questioned by the lawyer in Luke chapter 10, verse 25: “And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’” The question of how to obtain eternal life was debated among Jewish scholars in the first century, with the emphasis put on obeying the law as the means of gaining eternal life.

“[Jesus] said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How do you read it?’ And he [the lawyer] answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’”³

As seen throughout the Gospels, this was exactly what Jesus had been teaching, and perhaps the lawyer had heard Jesus uphold this standard of loving God with all that is within him and loving his neighbor. In his next sentence, the lawyer wants to know what it is that he has to do, what works, what actions he needs to take to justify himself; in other words, to earn salvation. “But he [the lawyer], desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’”⁴

The lawyer wants to know who is it exactly that he needs to love. He knows that his neighbor includes fellow Jews. But Gentiles weren’t considered neighbors, though it does say in Leviticus 19:34 to “treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.” So neighbors to the lawyer would probably be fellow Jews and any stranger living in his own town. Anyone else is definitely not a neighbor, especially the hated Samaritans. It’s in response to this question, “Who is my neighbor,” that Jesus tells the parable.

“Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.’”⁵ While it was impossible to tell the nationality of the man, in the context and outcome of the story, the original listeners would most likely have assumed this man was a Jew.

“Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side^.”6 It’s likely that the priest was returning from one of the weeks he served in the temple. Because of his status, he was most likely riding on a donkey and could have transported the injured man to Jericho. The problem was that he couldn’t tell who, or what nationality, the man was, since he was both unconscious and naked. The priest was under the duty of the Mosaic law to help a fellow Jew, but not a foreigner. On top of it, the priest didn’t know if the man was dead or not, and according to the law, going near or touching a dead body would cause him to be ceremonially unclean. In the end he decided to pass by the man, staying on the other side of the road to make sure he kept the proper distance from him.

The parable continues: “So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.”⁷ The Levite does the same as the priest and makes the decision not to help.

The third person who enters the scene is a despised Samaritan, an enemy. Jesus tells of all the Samaritan does for the dying man, things that the religious priest and Levite, who both serve in the temple, should have done. “But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.”⁸

The Samaritan has compassion on the wounded man, binds up his wounds, then pours on wine and oil for disinfecting. Beyond that, he lifts the man onto his own animal and takes him to an inn, presumably in Jericho. The Samaritan is the one who did what neither the priest nor Levite would do.

And then he did even more. “And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.”⁹ Two denarii was the equivalent of two days’ wages for a laborer. The Samaritan’s promise to return and pay any extra expenses ensured the safety and continued care of the beaten man.

Upon finishing the story, Jesus asks the lawyer: “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”¹⁰

When the lawyer asked, “Who is my neighbor?” he wanted a categorical, black-and-white type of answer. But Jesus’ story showed that there is no short list limiting who you are responsible to love or who you are supposed to consider your neighbor. Jesus defined “your neighbor” as those in need whom God brings across your path.

Through this parable Jesus was making it clear that his neighbor—our neighbor—is anyone in need, regardless of their race, religion, or standing in the community. There are no boundaries when it comes to whom we should show love and compassion to. Compassion goes way beyond the requirements of the law. We are even expected to love our enemies.

The beaten men and women whom we come across in our lives may not be physically half dead by the side of the road. But so many need to feel love and compassion, to receive a helping hand, or someone willing to listen to their heart cries, so they know that they matter, that someone cares for them. And if God has brought you across their path, then He may be calling you to be that person.

Jesus set the bar for love and compassion in this parable, and His closing words to you and me—the listeners of today—are “Go, and do likewise.”

Originally published May 2013. Adapted and republished July 2020.
Read by Reuben Ruchevsky.

A compilation

In 1986, Billy Graham wrote a book about angels. In it he recounts a most amazing story. John Paton was a missionary in the New Hebrides islands. One night the warriors from one of the local tribes surrounded the mission headquarters, planning to burn the Patons out and kill them. As you can imagine, John Paton and his wife were terrified, and prayed all through the night that God would save them. When daylight came, they were astonished to see the warriors leave without attacking them.

A year later the chief of the tribe became a Christian. During the course of their conversations John Paton asked the chief about that night. What had kept the warriors from burning down the house and killing them?

The chief asked, “Who were all those men you had there with you?”

Paton replies: “There was no one other than my wife and I.”

The chief told Paton that he and his warriors had seen hundreds of men standing guard around the mission headquarters, men with shining clothes and holding drawn swords.—From storiesforpreaching.com

*

At age 20, I found myself at the bottom of a deep valley when my mother passed away. Though I managed to get most of the way through this valley, I held on to a measure of resentment against the Lord, which I kept locked away in my heart.

The Lord drew my attention to the need to exercise more gratitude toward Him—not just when things were turning out right, but always. One day, while alone in my room, I felt the Lord speaking to me.

“I am pleased that you are taking seriously this new challenge of gratitude in all things,” He said. “But there is still further to go.”

I cringed. Then I waited, remaining still and silent. Then He spoke again.

“There is still a seed of resentment in your heart over your mother’s passing away. You must root it out, by thanking Me for taking her. Also, although you’ve always known in your mind that your blindness is a part of My wonderful plan for your life, you have never outright thanked Me for it.”

Through tears of humility, I thanked God for those two things. As I did, all resentment, hurt, and pain were washed away in a flood of joy that cannot be explained in earthly terms.

Suddenly, it was as though the eyes of my soul were opened. Although I was alone, I saw myself surrounded by angels and heavenly beings. They were laughing and sharing in my joy. Most beautiful of all, among them was my mother, with tears of joy on her face.—Steve Hearts

*

In the Bible, angels appear to people in unpredictable and various ways. From a casual reading of Scripture, a person might get the idea that angelic appearances were somewhat common, but that is not the case. … In order to determine whether angels appear today, we must first get a biblical view of their ancient appearances.

The first appearance of angels in the Bible is in Genesis 3:24, when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. God placed cherubim to block the entrance with a flaming sword. The next angelic appearance is in Genesis 16:7, about 1,900 years later. Hagar, the Egyptian servant who bore Ishmael to Abraham, was instructed by an angel to return and submit to her mistress, Sarai. Abraham was visited by God and two angels in Genesis 18:2, when God informed him of the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The same two angels visited Lot and instructed him to escape the city with his family before it was destroyed.¹ The angels in this case also displayed supernatural power by blinding the wicked men who were threatening Lot.

When Jacob saw a multitude of angels,² he immediately recognized them as the army of God. In Numbers 22:22, an angel confronted the disobedient prophet Balaam, but Balaam did not see the angel at first, although his donkey did. Mary received a visit from an angel who told her that she would be the mother of the Messiah, and Joseph was warned by an angel to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt to protect them from Herod’s edict.³ When angels appear, those who see them are often struck with fear.⁴ Angels deliver messages from God and do His bidding, sometimes by supernatural means. In every case, the angels point people to God and give the glory to Him. Holy angels refuse to be worshiped.⁵

According to modern reports, angelic visitations come in a variety of forms. In some cases, a stranger prevents serious injury or death and then mysteriously disappears. In other cases, a winged or white-clothed being is seen momentarily and is then gone. The person who sees the angel is often left with a feeling of peace and assurance of God’s presence. This type of visitation seems to agree with the biblical pattern as seen in Acts 27:23.

Another type of visitation that is sometimes reported today is the “angel choir” type. In Luke 2:13, the shepherds were visited by a heavenly choir as they were told of the birth of Jesus. Some people have reported similar experiences in places of worship. This experience does not fit the model so well, as it typically serves no purpose other than to provide a feeling of spiritual elation. The angel choir in Luke’s Gospel was heralding some very specific news.

A third type of visitation involves only a physical feeling. Elderly people have often reported feeling as though arms or wings were wrapped around them in times of extreme loneliness. God is certainly the God of all comfort, and Scripture speaks of God covering with His wings.⁶ Such reports may well be examples of that covering.

God is still as active in the world as He has always been, and His angels are certainly still at work. Just as angels protected God’s people in the past, we can be assured that they are guarding us today. Hebrews 13:2 says, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” As we obey God’s commands, it is quite possible that we may encounter His angels, even if we do not realize it. In special circumstances, God allowed His people to see His unseen angels, so God’s people would be encouraged and continue in His service.⁷

We are encouraged by the knowledge that God’s angels are at work. In special circumstances, we might even have one of those rare personal visitations. Greater than that knowledge, however, is the knowledge that Jesus Himself has said, “Surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”⁸ Jesus, who made the angels and receives their worship, has promised us His own presence in our trials.—From gotquestions.org⁹

*

God will send angels just when you need them. You may hear a flutter over your shoulder, or think you see something out of the corner of your eye. Or maybe there will be an old man you meet on your path, who directs you the right way and seems to have a lively light and love in his eyes. Or you may just feel a certain warmth and a peace—an assurance that somehow everything is going to be all right.

The Lord wants you to know that He loves you, that He cares, and sending angels to help you is just one of the many ways He shows it. So don’t forget that if you trust in God and His help, you’ll have angels watching over you—your own personal angel or angels—sent by the Lord to take care of you!—David Brandt Berg

Published on Anchor July 2020. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso.
Music by Michael Dooley.

A compilation

In our supersonic postmodern society, known for its busyness and its increasing ability to deliver instantaneously, we find ourselves hurried more than our ancestors ever could have imagined. We never feel like we have enough time to accomplish everything we want or need to do, and the clock keeps ticking. We can somehow lose touch with what is really important. … We are overworked, overstressed, and spiritually undernourished. Our culture promotes “bigger and better,” and subtly challenges us to keep up. Whew! Who made these rules anyway? Satan loves to keep us running in circles trying to beat the clock. If he can distract us, he can minimize our usefulness to the Kingdom of God. Satan may be the Prince of Darkness, but he is also the Duke of Distraction.

As Christians, we cannot allow ourselves to be swept away in the undercurrent of the cultural stopwatch. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

The Bible places high value on rest and peaceful living. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He Himself escaped the busyness of the crowds occasionally to renew His strength. Mark 6:31 says, “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to [His disciples], ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’” It is difficult, if not impossible, for us to hear God’s still, quiet voice over the roar of the 21st-century crowds, so, like Jesus, we must make time to rest and hear from our Lord…

If we are honest, most of the time we resemble Martha more than Mary.¹ We rush around doing “what needs to be done,” while missing the glimpses of Jesus all around us. As difficult as it is, and as contrary to our culture as it is, we must intentionally make the effort to slow down and model Mary because, as Jesus Himself said, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” …

We must be intentional about making time to rest in Jesus. Let the phone ring, the chores can wait, and social media could use a break. Those things are not eternal. Jesus is eternal. Let us make the effort to sit at His feet and enjoy Him.—From gotquestions.org²

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Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.—Philippians 4:6–7

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“Busyness doesn’t prove significance. Activity isn’t productivity. A busy life can be a barren life. Be still and listen to God.”—Rick Warren

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People who are so busy rushing around get tired, and they have to come into the temple and look up and take a nice big breath and get filled up again. Help us to be like that, Jesus, and to remember we can’t go on without the heavenly vision You give, a breath of heavenly fresh air, the sound of that sweet music.

Have you been in the temple today? Are you taking a look upward? Have you breathed deeply of that heavenly elixir? Have you heard those beautiful notes of heavenly music—marveled at God’s starry sky, His great creation, His universe, to know that all is well, and find rest and peace to your souls before you go back to work in the wings?

You wouldn’t worry and fret so and be so upset if you spent more time with the Lord. You’d find peace and rest for your souls. It just totally renews you and completely refreshes you and gives you new vision, fresh inspiration, strength, rest, peace and joy.—David Brandt Berg

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“When the fire of prayer goes out, the barrenness of busyness takes over.”—George Carey

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Martin Luther is quoted as saying, “I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” … I find many of my days and late nights to be filled with busyness! It’s always one thing after another as I proudly check off each task on my list that I complete. There are honestly days that I don’t have time to eat, head to the bathroom, or give my wife a call to see how the kids are. There are never-ending lists of grants to write, e-mails to return and many programs to oversee. Yet, in the midst of the busyness, it would seem that the single most important time spent in my day would be with the Father in prayer. …The key to a successfully busy life is an intentional and passionate prayer life.

Jesus seemed to be quite a busy guy during His earthly ministry. With all the miracles, teaching, rebuking of the religious elite, and training 12 ordinary men to be the future of the Church, it is amazing He had time to sleep! However, in the midst of His incredibly busy life, He made sure to spend time in prayer. In fact, in Luke 5:16, it tells us that “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Jesus’ prayer life was habitual and was something He “often” did. It was as if His prayer life was what allowed Him to sustain His busy ministry life.

As we go about our lives that get busier and busier, we often push many things to the side. Jesus’ discipline of prayer in the midst of busyness reveals to us that it is the necessary component to maintain the pace that life takes us in sometimes. … I look forward to seeing how a refreshed prayer life in the midst of busyness will empower us to be busy with His purposes.—Zachary D. Darrah³

Published on Anchor July 2020. Read by John Laurence. Music by John Listen.

I have been reflecting on Jesus’ resurrection and its significance. What did it mean to His original disciples—all of those who believed in Him during His lifetime on earth? And what does it mean to us today?

By the time Jesus ate the last Passover meal with His disciples, just hours before He was arrested, tried, and killed, they had come to understand that Jesus was the Messiah spoken of throughout the Scriptures (the Old Testament). Their understanding of His Messiahship, however, was different from our understanding today, because it was rooted in the Jewish people’s interpretation of the Scriptures at the time.

The Jewish people in first-century Palestine believed and expected that God would send a Messiah, as was spoken about throughout the Old Testament. According to their interpretation of Scripture, this Messiah, the anointed one, was going to be an earthly king of Israel. The expectation was that the king of the Jews would free the nation of Israel from oppression and domination by various other kingdoms, from which it had suffered for centuries. As they saw it, the kingdom to come was going to be an earthly one.

The disciples’ understanding of Jesus as the Messiah up until the time of His death was still based on this interpretation. They were expecting that Jesus would be the anointed king of physical Israel. When Jesus told His disciples about His upcoming death, it was difficult for them to accept this, because there was no conception in the popular Jewish understanding of the role of the Messiah that the Messiah would be killed.

Jesus didn’t want to spread the news that He was the Messiah, at least not at that point, possibly because it would have brought Him into political conflict with the Roman government. While Jesus didn’t want the disciples to spread the news of who He was, He did inform them.

Peter’s reaction to Jesus’ statement that He was going to go to Jerusalem to die was basically to tell Him that He was wrong. Why would a disciple tell Jesus that? Because, according to the Jewish perception, the Messiah was not going to die in Jerusalem—he was going to take over the physical kingdom of Israel and would rule and reign in righteousness, which in some way would affect the whole world. So, from the natural point of view, Peter’s response is understandable, as is James and John asking Jesus to let them hold positions of power in Jesus’ earthly kingdom. Their expectation was an earthly kingdom with an anointed king, the messiah.

The events of the days before the Passover added to this anticipation. Seeing the large crowd of those who had come to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover taking branches of palm trees and going to meet Jesus, crying out, Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel,¹ would have been exhilarating for the disciples! Jesus arrived in the capital city (as the Messiah was expected to do), and many were proclaiming Him as king. And why wouldn’t they? People had heard that He had recently raised His friend Lazarus from the dead. Throughout His ministry He had healed multitudes of sick people, He had fed thousands of people miraculously, and He had spoken God’s Word with authority. His arrival caused those who didn’t know who He was or what was going on to ask about it, and the crowds who were following Him said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”² The expectation of many that Jesus was likely the Messiah was high.

However, to all appearances, everything soon went wrong. Within days Jesus was dead—unfairly accused and savagely killed in the most degrading manner, a manner which the Jews understood to mean that the person dying was cursed by God.³ The Messiah was expected to bring the pagans to justice, not to suffer unjust violence at their hands.

You can imagine how devastating this shocking turn of events must have been for the disciples. The teacher they followed, their beloved Master, whom they were sure was the Messiah, was dead. Their hopes of Jesus being the Messiah had been dashed, and they were deeply saddened by His death.⁴

But then, the resurrection changed everything! God raised the so-called “failed” Messiah from the dead. There had been no Jewish expectation that the Messiah would be raised from the dead, so it wasn’t as if the disciples, or the Jewish people in general, were waiting to see whether Jesus would fulfill some biblical promise in that respect.

During Jesus’ trial the high priest had asked Him if He was the Christ, the Messiah, and upon hearing Jesus’ affirmative answer, the high priest and those with him decided that Jesus must die.⁵ They accused Him of blasphemy, which by their law was punishable by death. The Jewish leaders rejected Him, did not believe He was the promised Messiah, and feared that if He lived, the Romans would take away their place in the temple and the nation as a whole.

Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator, condemned Jesus to death on the basis of His claim of being a king. It seems he didn’t consider Jesus a threat, but due to the insistence of the crowd and the Jewish authorities, he chose to apply the law.⁶ There could be no kings without the sanction of Rome, so under the Roman anti-sedition laws He was crucified. Jesus was executed because the Jewish leaders rejected Him as the Messiah, and because the Romans said no unauthorized king could live. Yet the extraordinary and unexpected event of His resurrection reversed the verdicts of both the Jewish and the Roman courts.⁷

Despite Rome’s rules that would-be kings must die, and the Jewish leaders’ belief that Jesus was not the Messiah, God Himself overturned their judgments, validating Jesus as both King and Messiah by raising Him from the dead. This in turn validated all that Jesus taught about Himself and about God the Father, about the kingdom of God and salvation. The resurrection, which proved that Jesus was in fact the Messiah, coupled with the coming of the Holy Spirit, established a new understanding about God.

The significance of the resurrection in Jesus’ day was that it validated that Jesus was who He said He was. Before the resurrection, the disciples didn’t fully understand the things Jesus had told them about His death and resurrection. However, after He rose, during the forty days before He ascended into heaven, He explained the Scriptures to them and they then understood.

The realization that through Jesus’ Incarnation, death, and resurrection, salvation was available to all, was the reason the apostles preached about the resurrected Christ throughout the book of Acts. It’s why the New Testament writers wrote about the significance of the resurrection, stating that it proved He was the Son of God, that we are born again, that we have assurance of our salvation, and that without it our faith would be in vain.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.⁸

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.⁹

The resurrection was proof that God had indeed entered into the world in a new way, through His Son. Fifty days later, after Jesus had ascended, the Holy Spirit also entered the world in a new way by dwelling within believers. These events motivated the disciples and the early church to spread that news throughout the world of their day. They shared the news that through Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross, humanity could be reconciled with God.

The early disciples, while initially faced with crushed hopes due to their expectations, soon came to see that because Jesus arose, what He did, said, and promised are true. That carries down through history to us today. The risen Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, gave proof of His divinity by dying for our sins and rising from the dead.

Because He died for our sins and then rose from the dead, we know that all He said is true: that we have salvation, that we have eternal life, that the Holy Spirit dwells within us, that we have the promise of answered prayer, that He will lead and guide us when we ask Him to. The separation between us and God has been bridged. We are God’s children, who will live with Him forever, and we can bring others to Him through our witness.

Because of the resurrection, we have the assurance of salvation, the ability to lead a Christ-infused life today, and the honor to live with God forever.

For more writings by Peter Amsterdam, visit Directors Corner.

At some time or other, everybody feels dirty and spiritually icky. None of us feel like we deserve the Lord’s love. And if we’re walking by sight and not by faith, going by how we’re feeling instead of trusting God’s Word, of course we’re going to wonder how the Lord could possibly love us or want us.

It’s just a fact that we’re all dirty and sinful. But when God looks at us, He doesn’t see our sin. He’s perfect, and He can’t accept sin, but when He looks at us He sees Jesus. “Our lives are hid with Christ in God. We’re crucified with Christ, nevertheless we live; yet not us, but Christ liveth within us.”¹ Jesus is our mediator. Jesus is the one who gets us through to God. We’re too imperfect, too bad, too sinful—that’s for sure—but we’re not too sinful for Jesus!

Jesus paid the price and took all our dirtiness and our imperfections and our sins on Himself. We are all too dirty for God. It doesn’t make any difference to our salvation whether we’re more or less sinful than someone else. As long as we have been saved by Jesus’ blood, He’s forgiven us—for past, present, and future sins—and He sees only Jesus’ righteousness.

The degree of our sinfulness doesn’t really matter to the Lord; all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and if salvation and God’s blessings were dependent on our own righteousness, we’d all fall short.² But thanks to Jesus, we don’t have to worry about it or feel that it keeps us from God. It doesn’t, because Jesus has paid the price for our sins, and we are no longer separated from the Lord because of them. He says that even our righteousness is as “filthy rags.”³ Jesus is the only one who is good and clean and perfect, and we’re bound together with Him and we’re one with Him, so God only sees Jesus, and it doesn’t matter how sinful we are as compared to others. We’re all His children and He loves us all.

Once the Lord has made our hearts clean and Jesus lives within us, it doesn’t matter how awful we have been or how dark our sins are. The Lord accepts us the way we are. Sometimes we’re tempted to feel that we have to try to be good enough for Him or earn His love or try to be a martyr to prove how much we love Him, which only leads to condemnation, because our works are inadequate.

If you’re worried about being close to Jesus, do you know what kind of person He says He’s really close to? God’s Word says, “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.”⁴ So the more desperate you get, the more broken you get, the closer He becomes to you.

Often when we’re in the most broken condition and in our most desperate situation, we feel His presence more too. We feel the Lord then because we’re hanging on to Him for dear life.

When we’re only looking to Him, we can then see Him a little better and even feel Him a little better. When you’re in that state and you know you’ve made a mess of things and you’re sorry, that’s when the Lord is nearest to you. In other words, when you are bad and filthy and feel as if you’re covered with mud, that’s when He’s closest to you—not farthest away. Even if you don’t feel it, you know it by faith because He said it, and if you know by faith that He’s close to you when you’re bad and broken and sorry, then you know that it doesn’t come as a result of your somehow earning it.

You know He loves you in spite of how sinful you are. He has compassion and mercy on you. He loved us so much and died for us because we are sinners,⁵ and the weaker we are and the more we need Him, the closer He comes to us and tries to help us. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.”⁶

You might wonder, “Why would He ever want to be close to me?” I don’t know why He’d want to be close to any of us. But He does, and He’s said so over and over in His Word. You just have to believe His Word. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”⁷

Why would the Lord want any of us? We’re all in the same sinful category. We’re all in the same boat as far as the Lord is concerned. But the Lord knows that and He still loves us and wants to be close to us because Jesus came to save us, and that’s God’s plan. He loves us. We don’t have to know exactly why. I admit it’s difficult to understand why He would want any of us. But He does, and that’s what He says in His Word and that’s what we have to believe. We don’t have to find out all the reasons behind things and analyze why things are the way they are.

You don’t have to worry about why you haven’t had faith in the past; the past is over and done with. The important thing is to start doing what you’re supposed to be doing right now. Why worry about the past? It’s over and done with. There’s no reason to cry over spilled milk and there’s no reason to condemn yourself. The Lord doesn’t condemn you. He just wants you to turn around and do better now.

He wants you to believe that He loves you, and He wants you to read His Word and believe it and receive it and let it transform you. That in itself shows how much He cares about you and loves you. That shows how special you are to the Lord.

For more writings by Maria Fontaine, visit Directors Corner.

A compilation

“It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.”—Philippians 1:29¹

I am a creature of comfort. I don’t want luxury, but I do love comfort. I like—no, strike that—LOVE creature comforts, such as warm cups of tea, soft blankets, cuddling with my kids, a plate of pasta, an evening laughing with friends, the joy of a shirt that fits just right, kisses from my husband, a pretty place to sit. These are the things I seek out. I also like knowing that everyone I love is comfortable. Truth be told, I consider these my needs.

Let me tell you about the things I don’t seek out: pain (of any kind), suffering, distress, and deprivation. I really dislike anything that will leave me cold, tired, or hungry—let alone injured or in pain. I like things to be easy. That’s just the honest truth.

There is this verse in the Bible that really conflicts with what I consider my “needs”: “It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.”² This passage was written to the Christians of Philippi when Paul was in prison. In the previous verses Paul was talking about how honored he felt to be in prison for preaching the gospel, and expressing how whether he lived or died, his life belonged to God.

So there I have it in black and white: “It is given to me to suffer for Christ.” Paul is letting us know that it’s not just a “feel good” religion where we find comfort, hope, encouragement, peace, and all that good stuff. Our faith in Jesus is also something we can expect to suffer for.

Religious persecution can seem so far removed from our universe that we don’t realize that even today there are many Christians whose faith costs them heavily in terms of personal comfort, safety, freedom, and even their lives.

It can be a shock for those of us who live in places where religious persecution is less common that our faith comes with a “must be willing to suffer” clause. Jesus prepared our hearts for it when He said, “The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”³

Persecution is actually a promise for living the way God wants you to live. Paul says this in 2 Timothy 3:12: “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”⁴ So persecution can be a sign that your choices and lifestyle are probably right and godly.

I decided to put a face on what persecution can look like, just to prepare my heart and so that when it comes, I will remember that this is what I have signed up for.

1. Being called out for my beliefs. This could mean having to explain to some of my secular friends that I believe in things like intelligent design and being ridiculed for those beliefs. Or taking flak for not condoning certain kinds of behaviors or lifestyles. Or perhaps watching my kids being pushed out of the “cool crowd” for choosing to be true to their faith.

2. Having someone go out of their way to make my or my family’s life miserable because of our faith. Maybe someone will spread malicious stories about me and my loved ones. This could affect our social circle, club memberships, or employment, and cause hardship. This could go a step further, with someone putting our physical safety at risk.

3. Being persecuted by the law and the government. I live in a country that boasts of religious freedom, and I love that we have it. But I also know that this certainly is not the case in many countries today. Religious freedom is something that amazing people of the Christian faith have fought and given their lives for, and I do not take it for granted. It could be taken away. There are countries where being a Christian is a crime punishable by imprisonment, fines, and in the most extreme cases, death.

There’s a lot to be said about God’s grace, protection, miracles, and strength that comes when times are hard, which includes persecution. We can trust that He will give us His grace for any opposition or persecution we face in this life, from mild to severe. He will help us to face it with the same kind of love that makes us ready to fight and/or suffer for those we love. And we know that Jesus does the same thing for us.

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”⁵—Mara Hodler

Worth the cost

Christians have experienced persecution from Jesus’ time to the present. Our Lord explained in the Scriptures that this is a part of our lives as His followers.⁶ The apostle Paul also said, “Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”⁷

Many people equate the term “persecution” with its most severe forms—imprisonment, torture, and death. They hear accounts on YouTube, in the news, and on Christian websites of the rising numbers of those of faith who have been called to endure such forms of persecution. But then they look around at the many other Christians in the world who have never faced anything that severe, and they may wonder if somehow those people weren’t “godly” enough in some way.

I think the answer can be found by looking at the definition of the word “persecution.” In both secular and Bible dictionaries the definitions include terms such as “being pursued, pressed on, oppressed, or suffering punishment.” Some definitions described the meaning as “facing resistance, hostility, ill treatment, or opposition.”

When you live the truth of the gospel, it’s inevitable that you will face opposition and resistance in one form or another. Some are called to endure very extreme forms of persecution, while others suffer in other ways. Whatever the situation, God gives them the strength and courage to face what He has asked of them.

None of us can know what will come into our lives in the future, but we do know that whatever it is, Jesus will never fail us. Whatever He calls us to do in this life, if we are closely following Him, we will glorify Him. No matter what He asks us to do, His power will be there to help us when we need it. As we look to Him, we will be victors, and He will be pleased with us.—Maria Fontaine

Tasks of faith

“We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”—2 Corinthians 4:16–17⁸

Philip Yancey once wrote, “I used to believe that Christianity solved problems and made life easier. Increasingly, I believe that my faith complicates life, in ways it should be complicated. As a Christian, I cannot not care about the environment, about homelessness and poverty, about racism and religious persecution, about injustice and violence. God does not give me that option.”

Yancey goes on to quote that old familiar passage, which he explains this way: “Jesus offers comfort, but the comfort consists of taking on a new burden, His own burden. Jesus offers a peace that involves new turmoil, a rest that involves new tasks.”⁹

What new tasks? Jesus summed them up when He summed up the Christian faith: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself”¹⁰—our “neighbor” being anyone we are in a position to help. Loving others as much as we love ourselves doesn’t come naturally and seldom is easy, but it’s what we are called to as Christians.—Keith Phillips

Published on Anchor July 2020. Read by Simon Peterson.

A compilation

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”—Romans 10:14¹

When it comes to Christian service, it is always God working in us and through us who will accomplish the task He has called us to do. But we don’t sit back passively. God requires our commitment, both spiritually and physically.

The first thing God requires is our willingness and availability to Him, and the first part of our anatomy He requires is our feet. Our feet take us where God wants us to be. In Ephesians 6:15, Paul refers to them as “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” When we’re in the right place, God requires our eyes. Jesus said to His disciples, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest.”² This was after the disciples had shrugged off the woman of Samaria; married five times, living in sin, and shunned by her community, but thirsting for what only God could give her.

There are many people who are ripe for the Word of God, but our eyes have to be opened to see them.

God also requires our ears. In Jeremiah 23:22, God says, “If they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people.” Of vital importance is taking time alone with God and listening for what He places in our hearts. Isaiah writes, “He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.”³

Once we hear God, He requires our tongues. In the same verse, Isaiah says, “The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.” There is little more satisfying than listening to an instructed tongue in the things of God, and little more frustrating than listening to an uninstructed tongue. The Holy Spirit reveals the truths of God, and we need to present them with conviction, accuracy, and kindness.

We are workers together with God, and He will use our feet to put us in the right place at the right time, our eyes to see what is to be done, our ears to know what He tells us, and our tongues to say what He has placed in our hearts. It will be a divinely directed work that will almost certainly see hurdles and setbacks, but in the end, result in dynamic work.

God is the empowerment, and He says, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.”⁴ There isn’t a higher calling we’ll ever have than to climb that mountain with God.—Charles Price

You are God’s representative

It’s been said that the only Bible the world reads is the one bound in shoe leather: you and me. When people see His miracle-working power at work in our lives, it serves as genuine living proof that it can happen to them. Your body is the vehicle that His Spirit is traveling in and your tongue is the instrument that gives them the truth.

But why do we have to tell them? Why doesn’t the Lord just send around some angels and let them tell them? Instead God uses us—fallible, sinful human beings just like them—to reach them. He knows we will have patience, love, and mercy on them because we have faced the same challenges and struggles that they have. Can you see God’s logic in using other human beings to be His witnesses? You’re His proof!

Someone once said, “You can’t prove God exists. You can’t put God in a test tube and prove to me that God is.” He’s put Himself in you, and you are the living, visible proof that there is a God, just as His creation is visible proof of His existence. Your love, the light in your eyes and on your faces and the wonderful spirit that people feel from you, not only proves that there’s a God but that God loves them.

Not everybody in the world has heard the gospel. They may have heard of Jesus, but they don’t always understand who He is or what He did. You’ve got the tough job of trying to get people to believe though having not seen. They may not realize it, but they’re seeing the living proof right now when they look into your eyes and your face and they hear your words. They see and feel and hear Jesus through you. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”⁵

You represent not only Jesus, but the Word of God. You become like a walking, talking Bible—the living Word of God. Most of the unsaved are not going to be reading the Bible. The only real proof many of them are going to see is you. All the rest has to be by faith. And God even plants that seed of faith in their hearts to help them to believe.

You’re the living proof of salvation through Jesus Christ.—David Brandt Berg

The beautiful gospel

What did Paul the apostle really mean when he wrote, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news?” Let us examine several aspects that will help people appreciate the value, worth, and power of those who are involved in the preaching of the gospel.

1. The gospel is beautiful because of its author, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus is beautiful in His character, in His love, and in the truth that He personified in every aspect of His life. … Christ authored the gospel so that the world could come out of the ugliness of their sin, depravation and bondage into a relationship with a God who is beautiful beyond description. A life of forgiveness, purpose, and privilege is truly beautiful in all aspects. When one gains an intimate appreciation of the beauty of the Lord Jesus, one is compelled to want to share His beautiful holiness, truth and joy with others who struggle through the mire of sin’s ugliness. It is truly beautiful to be around people who characterize the fruits of the gospel of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Only the gospel delivers people from the ugliness of hate, envy, jealousy, wrath, evil speaking, slander, divisions, and immorality.

2. The gospel givers are beautiful because they take on the identity of Jesus Christ. We all tend to become more and more like the people we associate ourselves with. When we involve ourselves in the giving of the gospel we gain a closer identification with Jesus Christ. Those who identify with Christ are known by the beautiful service that they render to those who are suffering in the ugliness of sin’s self-destruction.

3. The feet of the gospel givers are considered beautiful because they bring a message of peace, hope, and eternal life. Everything in this world is ultimately vain, so those who bring the gospel offer deliverance from emptiness and meaninglessness. There is great delight when a sinner turns away from sin’s turmoil and pain. Many people may not recognize the beauty of gospel messengers at the time, but God delights in those who share the message of eternal life with a world that is dying in their sin…

The bringers of good news provide a message that gives peace within and without. They lift hearts to eternal promises of a lasting peace. How beautiful God considers those who are involved in disseminating this message to all 6.2 billion people on the planet…

The gospel gives all people a key to the door of eternal beauty through a personal relationship with God, who transforms them more and more into His likeness through the sanctifying power of the Spirit.⁶—Paul Fritz⁷

Published on Anchor June 2020. Read by Simon Peterson.

By Maria Fontaine

Most of us naturally want to run and hide from traumatic experiences. We hope that since God is our refuge, our fortress, and our hiding place, He will somehow protect us from as many troubles as possible.

One of our members shared her testimony of how she and the others from their road team found themselves in the midst of a major earthquake. People were fleeing into the streets and parks in chaos and panic. There was nowhere to go that was any less dangerous. So what did their team do?

Right there, in the midst of the panic and fear, they began dancing in a circle, calling those nearby to join them. This almost surreal behavior in the midst of what for most was terrifying, as the ground heaved and shook, as if it were about to swallow them all up, must have seemed utterly counterintuitive. However, as these faithful followers of Jesus obeyed, God’s Spirit began to change the atmosphere from terror to one of supernatural peace.

The one who shared this testimony said that the way people clung to them in their desperation and fear, it was as though they saw them as angels trying to soothe and comfort and encourage them that Jesus was going to keep them. And, as Jesus was lifted up, they were all drawn together under His overshadowing wings, where they could feel His peace filling their hearts.¹

I asked our great teacher if He would give us His thoughts on this subject:

I have promised you a place of refuge, whether the challenges you face are personal troubles, such as struggles for finances, family crises, chronic illness, or troubles that involve more universal issues such as social upheaval, poverty, crime and senseless brutality, acts of terrorism, or even natural disasters.

Where is this place of refuge? Where is the strong tower that will protect you from the insecurity and the mental and spiritual anguish that traumatic times produce? How can you keep these things from negatively impacting your thoughts, emotions, choices, and your entire life?

Even if you are one of those whose life hasn’t been seriously affected by such things up to now, it’s very probable that in one way or another, sooner or later, you and others around you will eventually feel the consequences of man’s wrong choices as they cause more and more harm. However, all these events, as terrible as they may be, do not mean that I’m not there to help you.

I’m there every step, in every corner, in every circumstance. Man can never be so bad that he can drive Me out of the picture. Even in the worst scenarios, I am there. Even amid the chaos and suffering, in upheavals and crushing poverty, or in increasing terrorist attacks, I am there.

I am there, even in places where Christians have been through unthinkable suffering. In spite of all that the people in those places have been through, those who strive to follow Me still live amongst them. My children continue to carry faith, hope, and My Spirit to those who sit in places of darkness and despair.

For many of those who love Me, who have endured many terrible things, a deeper faith and an unshakable love for Me has grown from their suffering and loss. Their spirits continue to shine amid the devastation and fears, lifting their neighbors and friends with My love so that more will have a chance to know Me.

You don’t know what you’ll have to face in the times ahead, but you can know I will be there. The only real hiding place is in Me, in the center of My will for you. It’s a hiding place that doesn’t shut the world out, but instead carries you deeper into that vortex of desperate need where you can use what I have given you to bring hope to the hopeless.

My hiding place doesn’t separate you from those who need you. In many cases you will find yourself right where they are; yet you have nothing to fear, because you and I are there as a team together.

The secret to your peace of mind and ongoing fruitfulness, no matter what you face, is that your heart and spirit are seeking to exemplify Me in every situation. When you put loving God with all of your heart, soul, and mind at the center of your life, you will overcome and rise above, whether in this life or the next.

Be Me for others—for your neighbors, your brethren, and all those who are suffering and in desperate need. Give them whatever you can offer in word and in deed. Keep giving My peace to others, caring for them, shining with faith for them. Be an anchor in their storm, a guide to Me, their strong tower, when they can’t see how to find their way.

Give to others what I give to you, just as I gave peace to My disciples in the boat when the sea raged around us. Living in closeness and harmony with Me, you will find the peace you need and the faith to offer it to others who are searching for it.

(Maria:) I gain a great deal of encouragement from some verses in Psalms that I would like to paraphrase here.

Where could I go where You would not be there with me.
If I feel the ecstasies of heaven, there You are, and if I feel in the depths of despair, like I’m in hell, You are there also!
If I lift my wings like an eagle’s or dwell at the bottom of the sea,
There also Your hand will hold me and Your right hand will lead me.

I like what Matthew Henry said about these verses in his Commentary on the Bible:

The psalmist did not desire to go from the Lord. Whither can I go? [Where can I possibly go that you couldn’t find me? Instead, he was saying,] in the most distant corners of the world, in heaven, or in hell, I cannot go out of thy reach. No veil can hide us from God; not the thickest darkness … the believer cannot be removed from the supporting, comforting presence of his Almighty Friend. No outward circumstances can separate him from his Lord. While in the path of duty, he may be happy in any situation.

P.S. I’d like to draw your attention to some songs that seem relevant to this topic. I chose these because they specifically mention the “hiding place.” In addition, you can find many encouraging and comforting songs, both in Family-produced music and other Jesus-honoring music.²

Originally published August 2017. Adapted and republished June 2020.
Read by Carol Andrews.

By David Brandt Berg

In chapter 13 of the book of Acts, Paul recounts in brief the entire history of Israel to explain the transformation of his religion and doctrine brought about by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In these passages Paul says, “That promise which was made to the fathers, God has fulfilled this for us their children,”¹ and that it was fulfilled in Jesus, and only in Jesus, as verse 39 brings out clearly: “By Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”

And don’t forget that word “whosoever” in verse 26: “Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you who fears God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.” Thank God, apparently many of the listeners received the message, according to verse 43: “Many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.”

But this new doctrine caused such an uproar that everybody turned out the following Sabbath to hear it. Apparently the Jewish congregation hadn’t had that big a crowd in a long time, and “they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul.” So the apostles “grew bold and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.”²

This made the Gentiles very happy, and “they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region,”³ which shows they made very good witnesses.

But also notice the chronological sequence of the Gospel in verse 46—that the Gospel was to be preached first to the Jews or the Jewish congregation of that day, the people chosen to be worshippers of the true God, to give them the chance to hear it first, but also the choice to reject it, which, evidently, a good many of them promptly did, stirring up a lot of trouble for the apostles, who then had to leave town.

The apostles promptly took off for other parts, when the opposition grew too strong. But they weren’t sad about it; in fact, the Bible tells us that they actually rejoiced and were “filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost”!⁴ End of story—or, perhaps we should say the beginning of a new era of history, and a new phase in a revelation of the truth of God—the so-called “time of the Gentiles,” or, as some call it, the church age—today.

This did not mean that God was entirely finished with the Jewish people. It simply meant that what He’d been trying to show them all along, and what they themselves proved continually, was that they were no better than anyone else without God, and they could only be saved by His grace through faith.⁵ They had to come to God the same way as everybody else, just like the Gentiles, the despised people of their day.

Salvation had always been open to the Greeks and other Gentiles, and you will find indications of this in the Old Testament. You can also see this by verse 43 of Acts 13, where many of them were present in the synagogue on the day that Paul and Barnabas split the congregation. The Gentile believers among the Jews were called “proselytes” or converts to Judaism, which is proof that the kingdom was always open to those who believed, regardless of nationality or racial background. In this sense, there had been no change at all in God’s plan to save “whosoever among you who fears God.”⁶

Nothing had changed in the eyes or the mind of God. He had only further opened the eyes of believers to the truth that “God is no respecter of persons,”⁷ “and the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.”⁸

When the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them by saying: “The kingdom of God does not come with observation: For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”⁹ Those who are looking for the kingdom of God to be realized on earth will only find it within their own hearts and the fellowship of the saints, the children of God. People who are looking for a more literal promised land or kingdom of heaven on this earth will have to await the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ.

You won’t find it in earthly Israel—which, if anything, is a poor substitute for the eternal and glorious kingdom of God. In fact, Israel reminded us more of America than any other country we visited, with all its materialism, power, and armaments, its noisy traffic and air pollution, and its increasingly materialistically minded younger generation. But we have left behind the dream of a literal Promised Land for the reality of the kingdom of God in the hearts of men.

We have been liberated from the narrow confines of earthly human limitations into the glorious truth and freedom of the realm of God’s Spirit. Our vision has expanded beyond national boundaries of human origin to that of His worldwide universal church, from insignificant earthly goals to God’s heavenly kingdom.—From an earthly Sinai which cannot be touched to the new and heavenly Jerusalem built of living stones one by one; from the superstitious darkness of traditionalism into the glorious light of His love. As the children of God, we have heaven in our hearts, the promised land of His kingdom. Let’s spread its glories abroad into the hearts of all people!

This truth is so tremendous, it’s almost beyond comprehension! It’s a terrific transition into the fullness of the stature of God, a liberation as if from an ancient bondage, a binding tradition, with a recognition of what it means to be a son of God in all its fullness, instead of a mere child of fleshly Abraham, with only an earthly home.

Jesus said, “If My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, but My kingdom is not of this world.”¹⁰ This world is not our home; we’re just passing through. For “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. … For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”¹¹

Even though Abraham got to the earthly Promised Land, he never found the place he was looking for, because Israel couldn’t even begin to hold it. If you want to read a description of the real thing, you’ll have to turn to the grand finale of the Bible in Revelation chapters 21 and 22, the thunderous climax of the symphony of God, a place of such resplendent beauty, beyond the imagination of man.

“As it is written, ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.”¹² Hallelujah!

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.”¹³ “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”¹⁴ Praise His name!

Originally published February 1971. Adapted and republished June 2020.
Read by Jerry Paladino.

By Dennis Edwards

Sometimes when you are sharing your faith you might find that your intellectual or evidence-based arguments for belief in God are falling on deaf ears. In moments like that, you might try another tactic. You might try to show the person you are witnessing to the emotional benefits of faith in Jesus and the Bible. Let’s look at some of the difficult emotional situations in life and see how having a Christian outlook is healthy emotionally.

Fear: God’s Word tells us not to fear. Some 365+ times in the Bible, God says “fear not,” or a variation of that expression. “Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”¹ God knows our human frame, and the fears, misgivings, and discouragement that we can be prone to. God promises He is going to be with us, help us, supply our needs, and keep us. No matter what we face in our earthly life, God will help us to bear it.

Many of the early Christians died as martyrs for their faith. God gave them power over fear even though they faced some very horrible deaths in the hands of their enemies. They were able to die with faith and not fear. Their Christian faith gave them hope of eternal life. Their own leader had told them to “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”² By walking in the fear of God, Christians were able to keep His commandments of love and truth. Jesus had told them and showed them that the best choice was to live and die for those principles. Therefore, belief in God gives us victory over fear.

Death: God promises to be with us “through the valley of the shadow of death.”³ He offers to “deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage,”⁴ or “slavery,” as another translation has it. He offers us eternal life and victory over physical death. At the tomb of Lazarus Jesus said to Martha, his sister: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die.”⁵

As Christians, we don’t have to fear death; we can embrace it when it comes because we have eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus rose from the dead to prove He was telling the truth. The empty tomb was one of the greatest proofs of His resurrection. The Roman and Jewish authorities could have stopped Christianity in its tracks if they could have produced the dead body of Christ. But they couldn’t, because He wasn’t there. After His resurrection and subsequent baptism of the Holy Spirit, His formerly fearful disciples were transformed into fearless propagators of His message of love and truth. The truth of His resurrection is the best explanation of all the circumstantial evidence we have of that event.

Grief: Jesus promises to be with us in our grief. His Holy Spirit is a comforter to us in times of trouble, not only to comfort us, but also to help us later be able to comfort others with the comfort wherewith we ourselves have been comforted by God.⁶

Suffering: God promises to be with us in the suffering we experience in this life. He promises strength and endurance, and He will reward all those who suffer for His name’s sake. Many passages in the Bible speak of the benefits of suffering. The book of Job deals with the problem of suffering. The Bible tells us that God is compassionate and merciful with His children’s suffering.⁷ Jesus Himself said, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”⁸

Anger: God has a solution for anger and admonishes us to flee from anger.⁹ Through confession and prayer¹⁰ the Christian can get victory over uncontrolled anger as God gives us “self-control” or “temperance” as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.¹¹ Then we can be slow to anger, and put it away with all clamor, and slander; and instead be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.¹²

Guilt: God offers us relief from our guilt.His Word says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”¹³ In another verse He says if we confess and forsake our sins, we shall have mercy.¹⁴ So, we see that Christianity offers that relief from carrying the guilt we feel when we have done wrong. Jesus promised us freedom from guilt. We are all guilty because we have sinned or done wrong, and we know it. But Christ died for the sins of the world and offers us a pardon. If we believe on Him, the pardon is ours.

Worry: Modern psychology has told us that we are worrying ourselves to death and that many of our sicknesses and psychological problems are related to our worrying. Jesus told us specifically not to worry about tomorrow, to not worry about not having our needs met, because God would take care of us, just like He cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. Faith and trust give us power over worry.

Corrie ten Boom said, “Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength—carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” Jesus said, “Take no (anxious) thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”¹⁵ We often have to reach out to Him moment by moment and cling to His Word and truth when we face fear or worry.

Forgiveness: Christianity offers us a pardon for our failures, sins, and mistakes. God promises if we believe in Him, He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Jesus forgives us and teaches us to forgive others. Christianity offers the highest moral code ever offered to man, the code of forgiveness and love. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.”¹⁶

Love: Christianity tells us the greatest behavior is the loving one. The highest code of ethics is the one based on love. “And now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”¹⁷ Charles Dickens, the great British author from the 1800s, said, “The New Testament is the best book that ever was or will be known to man. It teaches you the best lessons by which any human creature who desires to be truthful and faithful to duty can possibly be guided.”

Thankfulness and praise: Nick Vujicic said he never met a bitter person who was thankful or a thankful person who was bitter. Christianity offers a solution to many negative emotions with its admonition to be thankful and walk in praise. Proverbs teaches that a merry heart does good like a medicine. The apostle Paul wrote, “In everything give thanks.”¹⁸ He told his disciples that whatever happened in life, no matter how difficult it seemed, God would work it together for their good if they continued to love and trust God¹⁹ and rejoice in their tribulations. God’s Word tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength.²⁰ There is something extremely powerful about facing the troubles of life with a thankful and positive, even praiseful attitude.

Positiveness: Closely related to the above, God’s Word tells us to be positive. Positive thinking can help us to overcome negative thinking. If we can control our thoughts and what we put into our minds, like one would control his diet if he were diabetic, we can help ourselves create positive thoughts which will affect our emotions positively. Paul wrote, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”²¹

Christianity offers the best solutions to facing and overcoming the problems of life, with the promise of life ever after, where there will be no more death, or sorrow, neither will there be any more pain or crying, for the former things will be wiped away.²² We won’t even remember the anguish and pain we passed through for the joys and pleasures that await us. “For eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him.”²³

Words from Jesus

Hello, My precious one, My chosen vessel whom I formed on this day of your birth, the day that you celebrate the beginning of your mission in this world. On this day when I created you, I looked upon you with such love! You were perfect in My hands. I placed within you all that you needed for your life journey. I breathed within you My Spirit, and I made you as My heart desired you. And you have grown and learned, and through all that you have experienced, you have drawn close to Me.

I love you more than you could ever imagine, more than your heart will ever understand, more than your mind can ever comprehend, more than you will ever know in this life! Yet know this: I am always with you, every day, every hour, every minute of your life.

I love you forever, and you’re Mine forever! I love you with an everlasting love, and will continue to love you with My unconditional, unfailing love to your life’s end and beyond. I will never fail you, My precious child.

The place where I meet you

I meet you in the place of your deepest need. So come to Me just as you are, leaving pretense and performance behind. You are totally transparent to Me; I know everything about you. Yet because you are My own—redeemed by My blood—I have unlimited, unfailing Love for you.

Ask My Spirit to help you be honest and open with Me. Don’t be ashamed of your neediness; instead, use it to connect with Me in humble dependence. Invite Me to have My way in your life. Remember that I am the Potter, and you are the clay. The weakness you bring Me is malleable in My hands, and I use it to mold you according to My will.

Your deepest need is to lean on, trust in, and be confident in Me. Accepting your lack of strength helps you lean on Me in unashamed dependence. I am training you to trust Me with all your heart and mind—a lifelong endeavor. And the best way to not be afraid is to have confidence in Me, your Strength.¹

Trust Me in the tunnel of darkness

I promise you that your sacrifices will not go unrewarded. I have promised that you will receive a hundred times more than what you have forsaken to serve and follow Me. That which weighs so heavily on your heart today and causes it to ache, which is given at such a great cost and causes you to cry out to Me in the depths of your spirit, will soon be much easier to bear.

The time will come in the not-so-distant future that you will look back upon these days of forsaking and brokenness, and you will see My promises fulfilled. As you committed that which was most precious to you into My care, you will see that I poured My comfort and blessing on you.

Trust Me that one day you will thank Me for the treasures you gleaned in this time, and you will raise your hands in thanksgiving and praise that I gave you the faith to trust, and I heard your prayers. So trust Me through every time of testing, every tunnel of darkness, and know that I will work even these for your good.

The rewards of faithfulness

You may feel unappreciated and unnoticed now, but I promise you that your faithfulness and sacrifices will be rewarded in ways that you never expected—not only in the kingdom to come, but also in this present life. I have promised that what a man sows, he will also reap, and you have sown good things in your life and into the lives of others. I have marked and recorded all that you have done and all that you have given. All your giving and sacrificing will be like a boomerang that will come back to you and likewise bless you.

Bring your petitions before Me, and I will make a way for you. I will make the crooked path straight, and I will instruct you in the way which you should walk. I will lead you in a clear and pleasant path. I will protect you and supply your needs. One day, you will see this time as a gift from My hand, as a token of My love. I will not fail to bless and reward you for your years of sacrifice and loving and giving to others.

Your perfect companion

When you feel like no one cares and there is no love to be found, that is the time to come to Me, to rest in My arms and find peace for your soul.² And when you are discouraged and you feel like a mess—look up into My face and see Me smile, for I love you just the way you are!

When you feel worried or frustrated, run to Me, and I will be your perfect companion. If you feel that no one can possibly understand the trials and tests that you are passing through, know that I always understand. I long to hear about your troubles and to help you to carry your burdens. That is the time to run to Me, to rest in My presence, and to tell Me about your problems, burdens, worries, and cares, and then trust that I will give you solutions and the strength for anything and everything you face.³

When you feel weak, I will be your strength. When you feel confused, I will give you peace. When you feel fearful, I will comfort your heart. When you are doubting, I will give you faith. When you feel strain, I will bring relief. When you feel lost, I will guide you. When you feel useless, I will give you purpose. When you feel anguish, I will give you joy. When you lack confidence, I will be your assurance. When you feel muddled, I will give you clarity of thought. When all seems dark and stormy, I will be your shining light.

Always remember that I love you just the way you are. Anywhere, anytime, any hour, every minute, each moment of the day or night, My presence will be with you.

Originally published in 1997, unless otherwise indicated. Adapted and republished June 2020. Read by Jon Marc. Music by Michael Dooley.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”—Isaiah 1:18¹

The Lord of glory, the creator of the ends of the earth, the holy one, is offering an incredible deal. You bring your scarlet sins, and he will give you a purified past and present. That sounds great, but what is the catch? We are used to hearing of sales that are too good to be true, mostly because they are. There is fine print and there are exclusions. But, when God offers the bargain of forgiveness, there is no catch. It is free…

While grace is free, it is not cheap. Bonhoeffer explains, “Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of His Son: ‘ye were bought at a price’ … Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.” There is a reason that we can receive the promise that our sins will be as white as snow. And it is not because of our own works.

Job knew that even if he washed himself with snow,² he could never stand before the holiness of God. Job told his friends that he was in a horrible predicament, feeling that God was out to get him and as if he was not able to stand in God’s presence to even discuss it with him. “For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter between us…”³ Job felt the pain of trying to be in God’s presence without a mediator. And it didn’t taste like sugar on snow; it tasted like dust and ashes. What Job longed for, Jesus fulfilled!

King David, repentant after committing adultery and murder, cried out to God in Psalm 51:7, “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” If washing away of scarlet sins is going to happen, it must be God himself who does the washing, because the sin has been against God. The good news of the gospel is that God himself purifies us by the blood of his resurrected and victorious Son. What David longed for, Jesus accomplished! …

The last time that snow appears in the Bible is when the Apostle John is given a vision of the glorified Christ—Jesus’ hair is white like snow. Jesus’ voice is like the roar of many waters, and his face is like the sun shining in full strength. He is perfect holiness and perfect glory. John falls at Jesus’ feet like a dead man. But Jesus lays his right hand on him, saying, “Fear not…”⁴

Maybe you are still trying to pay for your sin, or hide from it, or you’re trying to run from your Savior. If you are trusting in Jesus, he says to you today: “Fear not.” In Jesus, your sins are white as snow!—Tim Counts⁵

Jesus paid it all

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim;
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

And now complete in Him,
My robe, His righteousness,
Close sheltered ’neath His side,
I am divinely blest.
—Elvina M. Hall, 1865

Let us reason together

“Let us reason together”⁶ is an incredible picture of the grace of God. His people had worshipped other gods, engaged in sinful ways, and repeatedly neglected and rejected Him, but God is willing to reason. He then says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land…”

We outsource many things in our lives: lawyers for legal issues, accountants for finances, doctors for medical issues, and the church for our spiritual needs, but sadly, our spiritual needs are often outsourced without dealing with God directly. God is saying, “Come back to Me. Reconnect with Me, and I’ll tell you what I will do. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow.” That doesn’t happen in a washing machine. It’s a miracle of God that can only take place within the context of a loving, committed relationship with Him. All the promises God gives us in His Word trip over that. They don’t come to fruition unless we first come humbly to Christ.

Isaiah 30:19–20 says, “O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.” The bread of adversity and water of affliction are the very instruments God uses to bring Israel and surrounding nations back to Him.…

Again and again, adversity and affliction are the means of accomplishing a much bigger picture. We need to embrace tough situations where adversity and affliction have been our teachers. The remedy—cry out to God; He hears, He answers, and He rescues. The end result, “our sins will be white as snow,” and God welcomes us back into loving relationship with Him.—Charles Price

Though your sins be as scarlet

Though your sins be as scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they be red as crimson,
They shall be as wool.
Though your sins be as scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow.

Hear the voice that entreats you,
O return ye unto God!
He is of great compassion,
And of wondrous love;
Hear the voice that entreats you,
O return ye unto God!

He’ll forgive your transgressions,
And remember them no more;
“Look unto Me, ye people,”
Saith the Lord your God!
He’ll forgive your transgressions,
And remember them no more.
—Fanny Crosby, 1820–1915

Sin and forgiveness

Why is forgiveness an integral part of salvation? Because sin separates us from God,⁷ and no one is perfect; we are all sinners. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”⁸ and, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”⁹

We all need to recognize and honestly admit, “I’m a sinner like everyone else. I make mistakes. I need a Savior.” That’s why Jesus died for us, because we’re all sinners and it’s impossible for us to earn or be worthy of salvation. Salvation is like receiving a pardon. God has offered pardon to the guilty, and it doesn’t matter how bad you are or what you’ve done. If you believe that Jesus died for your salvation, you will be saved and forgiven.

“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin,”¹⁰ no matter what you’ve done! “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”¹¹ You can’t be too bad, but you also can’t be good enough; you can never earn or deserve 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.”¹²

Many people are too proud to accept a gift; they want to work for everything they receive. But only Jesus saves. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.”¹³ “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”¹⁴—David Brandt Berg

Published on Anchor June 2020. Read by Simon Peterson. Music by John Listen.