Witnessing to Muslims

Not by argument.  They have had to justify the powerlessness of their position since their founding anywhere between 570 and 622 CE.  Here “powerlessness” has to do with “spiritual power” and the ability to change lives.  Accordingly they have three answers for every non-Muslim question.

So, stay away from arguments; rather, ask a few questions.  That’s the way Ricky Leonard, missionary-evangelist does it when ministering in African countries that frequently abut, or surrounded by, or near to being overwhelmed by Muslims.

 He begins by asking, “For all the years you have prayed, has Allah ever answered a single prayer?”  “No.”  “Amidst your personal turmoil and struggles, has Allah ever given you peace?”  “No.”  “Have you or anyone you know of ever been healed by Allah?”  “No.”

“Well, come to our meetings tonight and you will see people healed of all manner of diseases.  Also, the deaf will be made to hear and the blind to see.  And wherever they are confronted in the service, demons will be cast out.”

Not one argument has been advanced.  Rick simply says, “You want to see the power of God in operation, come to the service tonight.”

This is a primary way the Apostle Paul handled the matter in debating with unbelieving contemporaries.
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.  For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.  And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (I. Corinthians 2:1-5).

This is what wins Muslims to Christ—a demonstration of the power of God.  These demonstrations along with supernatural dreams revealing Jesus to be the Son of God are slowly but surely turning the Muslim world “on its head”.

Is not a similar demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power what is necessary to turn America back to God?  Such a demonstration can happen, it must happen, Christians everywhere need to pray to that end—and need to begin praying NOW!

A Father's Heart

A FATHER’S HEART

“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17b).  These were the words spoken over Jesus at His baptism at the hands of John the Baptist and, in principle, represent the words every child is desirous of hearing from his/her father.  But, what does one do when a father is not present in the lives of his children to speak those words?  Let me tell you what one surrogate father did for his two (potentially) adoptive sons.  But first, let me set up the situation.

There is a mother and two sons where a father has exited the scene, by divorce or simply walking out the door, I don’t know.  In time another man steps into the scene, through marriage to the mother, with two potentially rebellious boys on his hands, ages six and four.  This man has never parented before, but is a Christian.  He asks God what to do in handling the boys—a procedure unfolded, beginning with the fact that the surrogate dad knew the boys missed their father and one of the wisest things he could do was help bridge the gap between the boys and their non-resident father.   Here’s what happened next.

God impressed it upon the surrogate father to find ways to “press” these boys into constructive thinking about the non-present dad.  This he did by helping them to select cards and gifts appropriate for birthdays, Christmases, and Father’s Day.  Year by year this continued and was supplemented by weekly telephone calls the boys were asked to make to their father.  On this latter item they were tested every week by their surrogate dad, “Have you phoned your father this week?”  If not, they were to phone as quickly as possible.

This process continued through the years so that the absentee father was reckoned to be a vital factor  in the lives of these sons; though limited to the interaction initiated by the sons.  This relationship, encouraging the sons to “seek after” their father, enabled the surrogate dad to speak into the lives of these boys, soon enough to become men, and set the stage for the boys to receive  discipline from him.

The result.  These boys grew into productive manhood, graduating from high school with training beyond, enabling them to take and hold good jobs; without the bitterness, anger and resentment so often accompanying such situations.  The sons are now in their mid-20’s.

This was a first-hand story related to me by the surrogate dad who presently has a fine, Christian testimony with the “glory of God” on him.

All over America boys and girls have been abandoned by their fathers, or, because of being born out of wedlock, have never known a father.  This circumstance is provoking such a series of social ills that, if not mightily addressed, might sink our ship of state.  This story is what one man did to turn about matters.

The Kingdom of God--God Exercising His Option

The Kingdom of God is inward, attitudinal with occasional and too infrequent bursts of power, but one day, perhaps sooner than we know that will change.  Why?  Because Jesus Christ is coming again and then the Kingdom of God will be outward, with an unquestionable attitude, and no limits to its power.

I can hear it now, “What right has He got to come and rain on my parade?”  Could it be God has His own agenda and timetable?  That God and man have different agendas has been the problem from near the beginning of God’s relationship with man.  It seems God has this novel notion that since He created all things, including man, He holds the “trump” cards—all of them.  But out of this position of strength, God has actually wanted to share everything He has with mankind, with only one restriction!—to not partake of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

How perverse is it that this one restriction, rather than all the available possibilities, should consume the attention of the first man and woman?  But that’s what happened and continues to happen.  It boils down to this, each person wants his or her own way (the basis of sin).  However benign such a notion appears, its consequences are frightful—actually leading to much heartache and ultimately death.  “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 16:25).    This takes us back to the different agenda scenario. 

In time, with plenty of warning revealed by all kinds of signs on the earth, in the heavens and among men, God is going to shut down this present order of things before man blows it up.  It’s critical we understand man’s penchant for evil.  One of the learnings from the Noahic flood, with its catastrophic loss of life for all of mankind, save those aboard the ark, was this assessment of mankind, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

This situation with the evil of man’s heart is coming full circle as indicated by Jesus prophetic assessment, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man” (Luke 17:26).  Jesus continued, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And unless those days were shortened no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake (the “chosen ones”, both Jew and Gentile) those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:21 & 22).

All this follows a mighty preaching of a magnificent Gospel, a “full” Gospel, the Gospel of the Kingdom—here’s the way Jesus put it, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).  Perhaps with this the last convert, the last disciple will have been made; then God will shut down this phase of history.

Next, God will start building His Kingdom upon the earth, featuring King Jesus upon a throne in Jerusalem with King Jesus’ representatives governing throughout the world.  He will have exactly 1,000 years to see what He can do, reigning as a Jewish King under Jewish law.  For most it will be a blest time.

Man has had ample time to try it without God and has amply demonstrated in every place and in every way, it just doesn’t work.  God is calling you to have a part in His kingdom on His terms—are you in?

 

Obedience, Our Gift to God

It was said of Jesus, “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).  This principle is out there for all to see—it’s not just some for some selected initiates, it’s for all Jesus’ followers.  If it was required of Him “to learn” obedience, how much more His followers.

And how did He learn obedience?  The secret is hidden and obvious at the same time.  After Jesus had amazed the scholars in the temple at His Bar-Mitzpha, answering their questions and asking them others, the record says:  “Then He went down with them [His parents] and came to Nazareth, and was subject [obedient] to them…” (Luke 2:51).  As a result of being submissive to His parents “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 1:52).

Obedience preserved Jesus for the most momentous moment of His life, death on the Cross.  “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).

From that humbling of Himself look at what followed:  “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9, 10).

Obedience paves the way for ruling.  Beyond this, it’s simply the best way to live.  To illustrate this Isaiah first recounted Israel’s history and, speaking for the Lord, said, “’If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword’; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 1:19, 20).  They weren’t willing and they were obedient, history tells us the rest.

Will you be more willing, will you be more obedient?  “Obedience to God is the most infalliable evidence of sincere and supreme love to him”, said Nathaniel Emmons.

God cannot command obedience, He simply provides the setting in which it can spring forth.  Freely given, our obedience pleases God beyond measure and opens up His treasure house of blessing and causes us to walk in His deepest purposes now and in the life to come.  Are you willing?

"Sudoku", Agassiz and the Bereans

“Sudoku” is a numbers game designed to facilitate mental agility and can be somewhat addictive. 

Agassiz in 1848 became a professor at Harvard and was known as a great systematist and paleontologist.  For purposes of this article it is noteworthy that he had spent a lifetime, amongst other things, studying fish.  He employed keen observation, hour after hour and day after day, combined with the power of deduction to render his conclusions.  He taught his students this same method.  It was a difficult method particularly for the young and Americans—he was not a native American, having come from Switzerland where he had served for 13 years as a professor at the Lyceum of Neuchatel in Switzerland.

The “Bereans” are identified in the Book of Acts this way:  “These [people of Berea who had received the Gospel from Paul and Silas] were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so [that Jesus was the Christ and that it was necessary He suffer and rise again from the dead—See Acts 17:3]” (Acts 17:11).

From “Sudoku” one can learn the principle of “pressing through” to a conclusion because only one number can fit within a given slot and one develops a variety of techniques to “deduce” this.  Techniques for easy puzzles are not sufficient for harder ones.  New techniques must be developed for harder puzzles and generally these come from patient observation.

Professor Agassiz taught his students that only after the most patient and continuous observation would a subject (a given fish) begin to yield its secrets.

This is what the Bereans did; beginning with a “closed system” [the Scriptures—as they related to Messiah] they “searched” (made diligent inquiry concerning) them and compared them with the data Paul and Silas were presenting.  We can deduce the Bereans pursued their line of study until they were satisfied with the truthfulness of the material.

Presently there are all kinds of Bible Study helps available to the interested student and there is absolutely no reason why a generation of master students cannot be raised up.  It is not enough to take the “word” of your pastor, teacher or denomination.  You need to search a thing out for yourself.  Get yourself several different versions or translations of the Bible.  Perhaps get a one-volume commentary on the Bible.  Every student should have a copy of Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (KJV) or one can get one for the NKJV.  This will get you started.

Agassiz method as applied to the Scriptures would have you look at a chapter or portion of Scripture until certain patterns begin to emerge.  Dig these things out for yourself; always putting larger and larger portions together.

Finally, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing [handling] the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15).

Is God Fair?

Inasmuch as we’re discussing a character trait, we need a working dictionary definition:  “marked by impartiality and honesty”.  Synonyms: “Just, equitable, impartial, unbiased, and dispassionate”.  Along the way we ought to see if we can get some Scriptural references pointing to God’s being “fair”; surprise, there are none.  Of the 54 references to “fair” in the Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance, there is not a single reference to God’s being “fair”.  Far and away most of the references containing “fair” have to do with the countenance of a female, and the remainder of the references touch on jewelry, trees and the weather.

Yes, by definition it would be impossible for God to be dishonest.  But though the above synonyms may be desirable for a judge in the American judicial system, they break down as a way to describe God for these frequently appear to be the least of His concerns:  “Just, equitable, impartial, unbiased and dispassionate”.  If anything, much Scripture can be brought to bear revealing He is the opposite of these.

In the “Book of Job” were “fairness” the standard by which God is judged in His relations with Job, He would strike out.  Nor would He fare much better with the remainder of the Old Testament saints.  And, remarkably, there’s no change with New Testament saints.  “Fairness” is simply not an issue.

What redeems the situation with our assessment of God’s character is found in the words of Abraham when he was contending with God for Sodom and posed the question, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right” (Genesis 18:25b)?  But what’s “right” and according to whom?

One of the prerogatives of being God is that He does not have to answer to humankind.  But what’s redemptive about this relationship is that God is a loving God and wants nothing but the “best” for His children.  We have His word repeatedly on that and some understanding of His whole scheme of redemption, culminating at the Cross.

Still we wonder “why” about certain things, usually as they have to do with us.  For starters we need to accept God’s word through Isaiah on this subject:  “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways’, says the Lord.  ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (55:8,9).

One day we will understand, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known” (I Corinthians 13:12).

An apt comparison for our need to know is this:  did your child or children always know why you were doing what you were doing on their behalf?  No, what’s more they didn’t have to know.  All they needed to know was that you loved them and were acting as wisely as possible on their behalf.

Is God “fair”?  Who’s asking?

You Choose and God Chooses

There comes a time to choose, to make a clear choice so all the world may see and acknowledge it.  Joshua summons the Children of Israel to Shechem.  There he recounts their history from their time of captivity in Egypt to that present moment, giving them the word of the Lord which made it expressly clear the Lord, Himself, had delivered into their hands the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canannites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.  Further, Joshua reminded the people how the Lord had used the “hornet” (the “drone” of that day) to drive out two of the kings of the Amorites (Joshua 24:11, 12).  The Word of the Lord continued, “And I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you build not, and you dwell in them; of the vineyards and olive yards which you planted not, do you eat” (Joshua 22:13).

No matter there were all these indisputable facts of God’s goodness to the people, some of them were still worshipping false gods which they had been harboring for years.  In effect Joshua says, “You can’t have it both ways.  You can’t worship Jehovah God—for He is a holy God and jealous—and the gods you brought over from Egypt.  You must choose whom you will serve—and do it today!  (That’s “asking for the sale”.  Moreover, that’s life—making choices now!)  To encourage them in the right direction he said it doesn’t matter what you do, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15b).

On that notable day at Shechem the people did choose “right” saying, “The Lord our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey” (Joshua 24:24).

Once God’s people make their choice, then God makes His—“He shall choose our inheritance for us” (Psalm 47:4a).  In a nutshell, that was the history of God’s relationship with Israel—sort of.  The scenario has to be amended a bit to allow for the fact God first chose Abraham.  But, then, by faithful decisions Abraham had to choose Jehovah and His way.  From that choice flows the very colorful history of Israel, whose brightest moments yet lie ahead.  Sorrowfully, before those “brightest moments” come, Israel will experience her darkest moments—and that’s mostly because of her “hard-headedness”, a national trait from early on in her history (See: Exodus 32:9).  

Israel’s pattern need not be ours.  Why not be tender-hearted?  Why not be submissive to the Holy Spirit’s leading.  Why not yield to the Lord at every point—and let Him delightfully “choose our inheritance for us?”  We can’t wisely choose our own way; the prophet Jeremiah said it’s not within us to do so, “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself:  it is not in man that walks to direct his steps” (10:24).  So, who shall direct our steps?  “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord:  and He (the Lord) delights in his way” (Psalm 37:23).  Is there not a comforting assurance here?

Are you struggling to put one foot ahead of the other?  

Why was Moses Denied Entrance to the "Promised Land"?

The chronological approach.  Moses sends out twelve men, one from each tribe, to spy out the land.  They come back with a negative report, speaking of how there were giants in the land and by contrast ". . .we Israelites are as grasshoppers in our sight" (Numbers 13:33).  This report provoked the Lord.  His response:  “And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath saying, ‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers’” (Deuteronomy 1:34 & 35).  Duly noted exceptions were Caleb and Joshua.

Immediately afterward Moses was tagged with the first prohibition of his entering the land, “The Lord was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, ‘Even you shall not go in there; … (Deut. 1:37).

Many years later with Joshua as his designated successor and just before crossing the Jordan, Moses besought the Lord:  “Then I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying:  ‘O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds? I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.  But the Lord was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me.  So the Lord said to me: ‘Enough of that!  Speak no more to Me of this matter” (Deut. 3:23-26).  Thereafter God gave Moses permission to go to the top of Mt. Pisgah and view the land from a distance.

A helpful commentary.  “There is an acute pathos about the request of Moses the penalty placed upon him.  He had one great commission to fulfill in his life, but he was unable to see its final and victorious conclusion.  This was not due to his own wrongdoing; it was the burden which he had to bear vicariously for the sin of the people for whom he gave his life. . .. God is good, but His election places upon the one called a vicarious burden which has as its purpose the reconciliation of sinners.” (The Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 2, pp. 349, 350).

On at least two notable occasions Moses inserted himself between the wrath of God and the people of Israel, in a very real sense becoming their savior; hence, Moses took their place.  This understanding would play out in Moses being prohibited from entering the land. 

The uncritical approach.  This is reported in the book of “Numbers” and chronologically, appears between the above two instances of prohibition for Moses and happened this way.  The Children of Israel are early in the Wilderness and in great need of water, for them and their livestock.  YHWH tells Moses and his brother, Aaron, to gather the assembly together and “speak” to the rock that water might come forth.  Instead of “speaking” to the rock, Moses, with his rod, smote it twice, prompting this response:  “And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them” (Numbers 20:12).

Why the “Numbers” account prevails over that of “Deuteronomy” is to be wondered at.  The essential problem is:  which version is correct.  I prefer the vicarious burden approach.

Harshness to Holiness

From the books of “Leviticus” and “Numbers” one gets a picture of the Holiness of God, from the book of “Deuteronomy” [all books from the “Torah”] one get a picture of the character of God.  There is a harshness [an uncompromising rigidity] that appears to attach itself to God’s requirements.  But God was working with the Children of Israel, so long in the Egyptian atmosphere of paganism and idolatry, to get them to understand that not only was He the only One and true God, He is also a “holy” God.  “Holy”, yes, but as revealed in “Deuteronomy” a very loving God.  But we learn in order for God to be loving He had to be harsh.  That’s simply in part because to transgress God’s holiness was to invite death.

God wanted the Children of Israel “to come unto Him” but there was a very prescribed way in which they were to approach Him as witnessed by the governances surrounding Tabernacle [later, the Temple] operation where His shekinah glory dwelt between the cherubim, over the Ark of the Covenant, in the holy of holies.  Only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, could the High Priest enter into the holy of holies, to make atonement for the sins of the people, and that only after very rigid and meticulous preparation.  In a word, the “holiness” of God was so overwhelming the unprepared priest could well be struck dead.

Fast forward to the “Cross of Calvary”.  What happened with all the events surrounding the Crucifixion saw Jesus offering up Himself, paying a terrible physical price, rendered all the more harsh, because he was without sin, to satisfy the requirements of God’s holiness.  When Jesus said from the Cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), hell rejoiced with glee; Temple authorities were smugly pleased; Jesus’ small company of followers, a few present, most having fled, were broken-hearted; all that the prophets had proclaimed concerning Him and all that God required of Him--“was finished”!  The offering of His blood as a sacrifice for the sins of men for all time was done—immediately symbolized by the veil of the Temple [separating the holy place from the most holy place] being “. . .torn in two from top to bottom” (Mark 15:38).  With this awful death God is reconciled to man, so that His kingdom is now open to all who will enter in.

God had to be very harsh to His Son [see Isaiah 53:10-12), in order that He could be very gentle with all His other sons and daughters.  But God’s gentleness and kindness is not to be presumed upon.  He is still holy and all those who would draw near to Him must also be holy.  In fact the Scripture plainly states, “Pursue peace with all men and holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).

A clear and present call to the church now is to walk in holiness (being separated unto God for His purposes) before God and with our fellow man.  This is what the whole world is longing to see and needs to have happen.

 

 

 

 

Isaac & Ishmael, a Reciprocal Relationship

For starters Isaac and Ishmael were half-brothers whose father, Abraham, had a covenant relationship with Jehovah God which had, has and will have consequences for Isaac and Ishmael for all time.  The brother’s treatment of each other, past, present and future will determine how God’s mercies unfold toward each of them (and their descendants).

There is common understanding that Israel’s disobedience and rebellion would result in her expulsion from the land (Deuteronomy, Chapter 28).  What’s not so commonly known is the descendants of Ishmael and Esau would suffer a common fate for disobedience and rebellion; with the warning that should they mistreat the descendants of Isaac, their judgment would be swift and sure (see Isaiah 21:1-17).  This judgment would be seen, not in expulsion from their land, but in devastation and desolation of the land.

From Israel’s expulsion from the land under the Romans in 70 AD with the destruction of the Temple, until about 1917 when the Jews started coming back to the land, the land was devastated and the Arab people living in the land suffered accordingly.

All lovers of Israel need to understand that present-day Arabs have a right to dwell in the land of Israel.  Here’s what God had to say about it long ago:  “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother; you shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were an alien in his land.  The children of the third generation born to them may enter the congregation of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 23:7-89).  This was an appeal to break down a wall of exclusivity between Israel and at least certain of her neighbors.  Later the Prophet Isaiah would take this concept to its ultimate conclusion:  acceptance of all nations.  In this Israel was to be a “light to the nations”.

This responsibility was to be exercised first among her immediate neighbors, even the Arabs but in this she failed.  Consequently, deprived of the knowledge of the blessing of a support role, which through faith would ultimately allow them to be fully integrated into the life and worship of Jehovah, and by the on-rush of the Muslim religion begun by Mohammed in 611 A.D., with his twisting of the Scriptures switching the roles of Isaac and Ishmael, the truth of Ishmael’s covenant relationship with God (and between Jew and Gentile) has been lost.

So, with understanding lost, Arabs, particularly Muslim Arabs, have set themselves against Israel thereby incurring the wrath of Jehovah God.  Ezekiel chapter 35, fearful in its scope, is wholly given to the wrath God has stored up for this people for the hundreds of years they have set themselves against the sons of Isaac.

Of course, God does not want to destroy the sons of Ishmael, no more than He has wanted to destroy the sons of Isaac, which He has, but unless they repent of their present hatred of Israel, they will be utterly destroyed.

Perhaps the prospect of the future, wide-spread destruction of the sons of Ishmael, is why God in various and sundry ways is making imself known (as Jesus the Christ—Himself known as Jesus the Christ, the “Anointed One”, even the Messiah) to a great many, individual Muslim Arabs.

Christians everywhere should pray the veil be lifted from the eyes of Muslim Arabs that they may turn in true repentance to the God of their father, Abraham, and His Son, Jesus the Christ.  Similarly, prayer must be lifted for Jews in every place that the veil may be lifted from their eyes to the reality of the fact that Jesus is the “Messiah” for whom they have longed.

 

God's Awesome Plan--Israel's Fall & Restoration

 At times attempts to describe a certain kind of beauty are irreverent, so desperately missing the mark.  Whether it be a scene from nature, the heavens, the interaction of human beings, there are times when words absolutely fail.  Such is the case of the agony of the Apostle Paul in company with Barnabas, when he said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you (the Jews) 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 to be a light to the Gentiles.  That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth’” (Acts 13:46 & 47).  How painful, how absolutely and utterly painful this must have been for Paul.

What brought Paul and Barnabas to this position?  Here’s Paul’s explanation, “Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.  Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Romans 10:3, 4).

Yes, the Jews have failed, but not ultimately so.  Paul puts it this way, “I ask then, did God reject his people?  By no means!  I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin” (Romans 11:1).  Paul, in effect is saying, “Because some of we Jews have believed on Jesus as the Messiah, proves that many more can be and will.”  This same principle can be applied to the Church with all its problems; many regard Jesus as Savior and Lord and walk in obedience to His Word, thus giving a certain sense of legitimacy to the whole of the Church.

God did not arbitrarily turn away from the Jews, He turned in response to their hardness of heart.  They rejected their Messiah.  What more could the Father do?  He will do more, much more to draw them to Himself again.  A significant part of this is for the Church to rise up and become a glorious Church—provoking the Jews to jealousy.  That is, by seeing the glory of God upon the Church (demonstrating the power of God) and realizing historically that glory should be theirs, their leadership at a point yet future will say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”.

Resurrection power will begin to flow.  Many Jews will be saved, getting the whole package, meaning the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and come into unity with believers in the Church, paving the way for some mighty powerful things to happen.

Presently the Church needs to magnify its Kingdom of God ministry in the same way Paul did, “I magnify my ministry (publish it abroad by every means possible) in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them” (Romans 11:4).

Ultimately Israel will be saved, but you might be surprised to realize the part God is giving you to play in this whole process.

 

A Counsellor to God?

“Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).  Was God’s sharing with Abraham His intention to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah an outworking of this principle?  If so, the practical result was that Abraham was given opportunity to intercede on behalf of  Sodom.

If intercession is the privilege of the prophets, consider Moses.  “And the Lord said to Moses: ‘How long will these people reject Me?  And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?  I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make you a nation greater and mightier than they” (Numbers 14:11, 12).  But Moses resisted and God relented, after hearing Moses rationale for sparing Israel, saying, “I have pardoned according to your word;…” (Numbers 14:20).

Similarly, did God’s bringing it to Daniel attention that the time of Israel’s 70-year captivity in Babylon was at an end represent an outworking of this same principle?  If so, this gave Daniel an opportunity to mid-wife this concern into reality by prayer and intercession.

If these three incidents reveal a principle with God, what might be said of believers “. . . looking for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord” (II Peter 3:12)?  Here might it not be said that believers have something to do with “hastening the coming of the day of the Lord”?  Grant it, the “day of the Lord” is a complex of many things, still it involves the coming of the Lord.  That being true, would not the Lord want to invite His followers into His counsel for intercession and proclamation?

Let me point out two verses with some specificity about end-time events, but at the same time reveal a certain amount of open-endedness.  The first is, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).  The second is, “Therefore … they asked Him saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel’” (Acts 1:6)?  Both verses deal with separate events, albeit connected.  When that last convert is made, be sure it is registered in heaven.  When Jesus establishes His throne in Israel, that, too, will be a most notable and specific event.  But the question needs to be posed:  “Are these fixed events, or, is there wiggle room for their fulfillment allowing for prophetic intercession and proclamation?

Can it be that as walk in closest obedience to God and His Word that He will see fit to include us in those matters He has ordained to come to pass?  Those things He has ordained do not happen in a vacuum, they require the cooperation of His people to pray them in and proclaim them.

 

 

 

History's Aristocracy--The Jews

The Egyptians were mysterious; the Assyrians fierce; the Babylonians religious; the Greeks “thinkers”; the Romans “builders”—all shaped history for a season, but now are gone.  There was one people contemporary to all these and only this people remains—historically they were known as the Hebrews, then the people of Israel, and now, the Jews.

From the human perspective two things seemed to distinguish them as a peoples for about four millennia: keeping the Sabbath (Saturday as a day of rest and worship) and observing the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible).  This evaluation is looking from the outside in.  Looking from the other direction, the picture is much different.  The Jews are a people who have a special relationship with the one, true God.  In a way history books acknowledge this fact saying that their contribution to the religious scene is mono-theism, belief in one God.

This relationship with their God is expressed in “covenant” an unbreakable relationship, sort of like the marriage contract but so much more.  The terms of this “contract” are spelled out in the Torah, most notably in the fifth book, “Deuteronomy”—regarded by many as the most profound book in the Bible.  God promises to do certain things and the Children of Israel (the Jews) are to do certain things, which responsibilities are summed up this way:  “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8)?

A novel thing about this relationship is that Jehovah God initiated it and the Children of Israel agreed to it.  Yes, this relationship gave them certain privileges, but also exacted awesome responsibilities.  Perhaps the greatest of these was to reveal to non-Jews, the nature and character of God which had been revealed to them through the Torah.  In a word, in their national character they were to become like God.  With such winsome and loving lives through righteousness and justice, they were to draw all the peoples of the world to their God.

How miserably they failed in this!  Yes, there were brief and infrequent seasons when God was pleased with His people Israel and the way they lived their lives, but more often than not He wasn’t.  When He was not pleased, He would chastise them, sometimes very severely.

Where the Jews failed in developing God-likeness in their national character, they were charged with a responsibility which they really have not understood to this day—that being to bring forth a Messiah who would reveal clearly what God was like and would indeed draw all persons unto Himself, all the while reigning over Israel.  (The facet of reigning over Israel is yet future.)  This Messiah would make it possible for all those who received Him, to have a “covenant” relationship with God far superior to the one the Jews had with God, but it was personal, not national as with the Jews.

Sad beyond measure is that the Jews, as a people, have not realized their Messiah came 2,000 years ago.  When He came they did not discern His character (because they were looking for a king) and to this day they will not read one of their greatest prophets (Isaiah, chapter 53) telling precisely what would happen to Him. He would experience momentary defeat, in order that all those who put their confidence and trust in Him would never have to be defeated again—particularly in death.  Soberly, it must be added, Jehovah God has drawn a veil across their minds that they cannot see and understand (John 12:L37-40; Romans 11:8-10; II Corinthians 3:14 & 15).

Still, what a debt we owe the Jews in being History’s Aristocracy.  And what have they done?   They have given us the Patriarchs, the Law, the Prophets, the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and finally and supremely, the Savior of the world. Should we not bow before them?

From Personal Anguish to the Sublime Purposes of God

What is the ideal life?  One lived without heartache, difficulty, and a variety of personal defeats?  If so, who has lived such a life?  And were such possible where would come those graces that attach themselves to those who bow before life’s reverses?  Even Jesus, who by virtue of lack of personal sin, became one acquainted with sorrow and grief (Isaiah 52:3) and “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). 

The issue then is not that we don’t have difficulties, but what do we do with them.  Let me tell you of an Old Testament woman, Hannah, one of two wives of Elkanah, desperately longing for a “male child”, and was anguished by the fact that to a certain point she was childless and was ridiculed by her “fellow wife” for her barrenness.  This condition persisted for any number of years.  At one point while praying in the Tabernacle, with bitterness and anguish of soul, she made a vow, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me, and not forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head” (I Samuel 1:11).

As she prayed she moved her lips but made no sound.  Observing her, Eli the chief priest wondered if she were not “drunk”.  She assured him she was not and told him of her plight.  “Then Eli answered and said, ‘Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him’” (I Samuel 1:17).

In time God gave her a son whom she named Samuel, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord” (I Samuel 1:20b).

After Hannah weaned Samuel she took him to the Tabernacle and presented him to Eli for the Lord’s service.  Before long the Lord spoke to Samuel, speaking a word of judgment God was going to bring on Eli and his household.  That was a “heavy word” for a little boy and Eli forced Samuel to divulge it.  Eli acquiesced to the harsh word.

Later we have this account of Samuel.  “So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall (fail) to the ground.  And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord” (I Samuel 3:19, 20).

That Samuel should come on the scene at this point was critical in Israel’s history because the judgment of the Lord fell upon Eli, the Chief Priest and his sons, cutting them off from ministry, and the Ark of the Covenant had been captured by the Philistines in battle.  Samuel was left alone to judge Israel.

Through Samuel the monarchy would be established, raising up first Saul as King, and, because of Saul’s rebellion, then David.

This whole sequence of events followed from the anguished prayer of a mother, fitting in with the purposes of God.

Are you troubled, even anguished in soul, because of some circumstance?  Give it to the Lord and see what He will do with it.

Beware God's Honor!

Thesis:  God’s favor (honor) is not without its demands.

Setting:  Ancient Israel under leadership of prophets and chief priests, before institution of Monarchy.

Situation:  Eli is Chief Priest in Israel ministering with his sons Phinehas and Hophni.  The sons, as priests, are involved in sexual sins with the women of Israel at the very door of the Tabernacle.  Eli chided his sons for their actions but did not restrain them.

Warning:  An unnamed prophet appears on the scene, first telling of God’s grace in exalting Eli’s forefathers, principally Aaron, to exercise the functions of a priest before Him.  With this position came the right to partake of all the burnt offerings of the Children of Israel.  The prophet further spoke of the fact it was God’s intention this house should minister before the Lord forever.  Implicit is the understanding that Eli was accountable to both God and the people to restrain his sons, but would not. 

Because of such gross disobedience on the part of Eli and his sons, the unnamed prophet spoke this word from the Lord, “Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.  Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house (your lineage), so that there will not be an old man in your house” (I Samuel 2: 30b, 31).

Consequence:  Shortly afterward not only did Eli and his sons die as was prophesied, but the “Ark of the Covenant” was taken captive by the Philistines.

Ichabod:  As if to dramatize the terrible sequence of events above, Phinehas’ wife who had been pregnant delivered a son and called him “Ichabod”--“The glory of the Lord has departed from Israel.”

Commentary:  It is a fearful thing to know such anointing of God (honor) as to be “lifted up”.  From about 1948, corresponding with the declaration of Israel’s statehood, many healing and anointed ministries were lifted up.  Several of those remained faithful and became very notable:  Billy Graham, Derek Prince and Oral Roberts to name three.  It would serve no purpose to name others who fell by wayside, and for those who have any history in the Lord, you have known someone personally who “fell”.

God honors those who honor Him.  Don’t draw back from Him from fear of falling, rather acknowledge that, for the grace of God, you might also fall, but you do not have to.  One simply needs to be wise and keep pressing in to God.  The people need anointed leaders.  Will you not trust God to become one?

Forumla for Making Any Day Good

 

(These thoughts I harvested years ago from Norman Vincent Peale’s book, Enthusiasm Makes the Difference, p. 103.  Amidst so much “heavy stuff” these practical suggestions help us to guard our “back side”.)

1.       Think a good day.  To make a day good, first see it good in consciousness.  Do not allow any mental reservation that it will not be good.  Events are largely governed by creative thought, so a positive concept of the day will strongly tend to condition it to be as imaged.

 

2.       Thank a good day.  Give thanks in advance for the good day ahead.  Thank and affirm a good day.  This helps make it so.

 

3.       Plan a good day.  Specifically and definitely know what you propose to do with the day.  Plan your work and work your plan.

 

4.       Put good into the day.  Put bad thoughts, bad attitudes, bad actions into a day and it will take on bad characteristics.  Put good thoughts, good attitudes, good actions into a day and they will make the day good.

 

5.       Pray a good day.  Begin each day with that powerful affirmation from Psalm 118:24:  “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”  Start the day with prayer and finish it the same way.  Then it is bound to be good even if it brings tough experiences.

 

6.       Fill the day with enthusiasm.  Give the day all you’ve got and it will give you all it’s got, which will be plenty.  Enthusiasm will make a big difference in any day and in any job.

JOSEPH--Obedience Before "The Law"

In Old Testament Joseph’s time, life was hard, slavery was rife and consequently life was cheap.  Joseph was approximately 17 years of age when he was sold into slavery by his brothers.  With this betrayal, outside of his brothers, to whom could Joseph appeal?  No one.  That is, unless you discount a sovereign God who was watching this whole treacherous transaction.  In Egypt Joseph would have been auctioned as an automobile might be auctioned today.  It was a transaction—period, but a sovereign God was watching, even superintending.

Sold to Potiphar, Joseph early distinguished himself so that Potiphar, in decent good time, elevated Joseph to the complete care of his household.  Where before, Joseph would have had only his physical appearance to commend himself to Potiphar’s wife, he now had a certain amount of stature that only enhanced his physical attractiveness.  From the Book of Genesis we gather she was the aggressor, and began a campaign to seduce Joseph.  Early on she let her seductive intentions toward him be known by direct statement, “Lie with me” (Genesis 39:7b).

 Joseph refused and countered by saying, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand.  There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife.  How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God (Genesis 39:8, 9)?”  [Such a high stance without the guidance of “The Law”, even ante-dating it 250 to 450 years.]

She was relentless, even shameless in her pursuit of Joseph whose only defense was to keep from being alone with her in the household.  Then it happened—one day Joseph came to the house to do his work and no one else was there but Potiphar’s wife.  She struck and there was nothing left for Joseph to do but flee for his very life—but God was watching.

In this situation, to whom could Joseph have made appeal?  What would have been his defense to his master, Potiphar?  Joseph was a foreign slave, albeit a bright one, who had rapidly learned the language and customs of the people—but still, a slave.  Given this circumstance and probably any other slave, Potiphar would have had killed immediately, possibly by his own hand.

But Potiphar was no fool, he saw what a blessing Joseph had been to his household, he understood “. . . that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field” (Genesis 39:5b).  Deducing from this, there may well have been a little bit of godly fear upon Potiphar.

Everything that flowed to and from Joseph, Potiphar knew had to flow from Joseph’s God.  Though Joseph was without defense, he had every defense—because God was with him. Fearing God, “Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined.  And he was there in the prison” (Genesis 39:20).  And from that prison he stepped into history.

Do you despair in your present circumstance, don’t cast away your future by sin—God is watching.

Jehovah God Is Sovereign/The Crucifixion of Jesus

Jehovah God is Sovereign.  Because of the number of things seemingly under our control, we may question this assertion.

Let me take an event from the life of Christ and examine it with an eye to discovering the sovereignty of God—the Crucifixion.  I haven’t read Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard’s book, Killing Jesus, so a discussion or review of that book plays no part in my thoughts.  The question is:  Who killed Jesus?  Many have been assigned blame: the Romans, the Jewish leadership of the day, and the Devil.

This question needs to be asked:  “If Jesus was the sinless son of God, was it possible for any man to kill him?”  Speaking directly to this is the Arrest Scene in Gethsemane.  After Judas identifies Jesus with a kiss and the authorities with Judas seized Jesus, one of Jesus’ followers took his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant (details are in Matthew 26).  Immediately Jesus said to His sword-wielding follower, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.  Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?  How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen thus” (Matthew 26:52-54)?  Here Jesus was referring to Isaiah 50:6 and 53:2-11).

In another place Jesus gives a rationale for his death, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).  This verse is immediately cross-referenced with another:  “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.  And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (I John 3:16).

From the movie adaptation of C. S. Lewis’s, Tales of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, from Aslan, the Lion, in laying down his life for another, one can get an apt picture of exactly what Jesus did.

What must be said is that nobody killed Jesus, to say otherwise is actually demeaning.  What’s more, He could have called twelve legions of angels to his defense.  (At one point in the Old Testament, 2 Kings 19:35, one angel is said to be responsible for the death of 185,000 men at one time—what of twelve legions of angels?)  No.  No one killed Jesus but let me tell you who is chiefly responsible for Jesus’ death—the Heavenly Father!  Hear this.

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. . . . Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise (crush) Him; He has put Him to grief.  He shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied.  By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:7, 10, 11).

There was a high degree of voluntarism in what Jesus did in laying down His life.  Given what Jesus has done for us should it not follow that “. . .we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren”?

Praise Makes a Difference

SCRIPTURAL FOUNDATION FOR PRAISE

1)      “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of all things; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you” (Deuteronomy 28:47, 48).

2)      “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Deuteronomy 20:3).

3)      “But you are holy, Who inhabit the praises of Israel [by extension the “praises of all your children”] (Psalm 22:3).

4)      “’But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!’  So the Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.’  Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.. . . Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still hold to your integrity? Curse God and die!’ [Job replied] ‘Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept  adversity’” (Job 2:5-10)?

5)      “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

6)      “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18).

COMMENTARY

1)      God is absolute Sovereign over all things.  This is graphically illustrated in Satan’s appearance before God to contend for the integrity of Job.  God granted Satan to touch Job’s body but spare his life.  In this God demonstrated that He had “Satan on a leash”.  Recognizing this, Job wisely said to his wife who would have him “curse God and die”, “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity” (Job 5:10)?  That reply set the standard for “believers” in every age.

2)      Since God is Sovereign with all things coming of His hand and we allow no other god to supersede Him, then praise to Him should be the first thing out of our mouths in every circumstance.

3)      When that praise is not forthcoming we cast ourselves into a prison of our own making.

SPECIFIC APPLICATION

1)      Your faith in God is only real to the depth of adversity in which you are willing to praise Him.

2)      Your circumstance—don’t like it, don’t understand it, it hurts?   Praise God in the midst of it and you allow Him to work.  If you grumble and complain (which is praise to Satan), you limit God, practically requiring He take His hands off and let us try to solve our problems.  Which will it be?