Tuesday, January 29, 2008

IN THE BEGINNING GOD

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2.

Read on and you will find that what the scientists of today are searching for. They are looking frantically for the source of that elusive first cell. If you do not believe in the eternal God, who is without beginning and without end, you will never find that first cell, the basic foundation unit of all life. Two of the Trinity are mentioned right here in the first verse of the Bible. God was already in existence. He is the source of all that exists.

The unnamed third being of the Trinity is revealed by John the apostle in his Gospel account. “In the beginning was the Word, (Christ,) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.“ John 1:1-4. These three, God the Father, God the Spirit, and God the Son, are referred to as one which we know as the Holy Trinity, which words never appear in the Bible. They represent absolute unity. Jesus in his prayer, John 17, with his Father, said “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one, as thou Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” John 17:20-22.

How can mankind so stumble over the fact of the Father, the Son and the Spirit of the Trinity, and still accept the statement that God made mankind both male and female and said, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Genesis 2:24. In Eden there was complete unity of purpose, and they became “one flesh.” Man thinks in terms of material, physical man. God is spirit and the Trinity is spirit, not material. It was, and is, God’s wish that the unity of a man and wife be as strong as is the unity of Father, Son and the Spirit. Some things can become so totally blended, even in the physical, that they can never be separated back to their origins. When it comes to the spiritual, we are out of our element and can never hope to understand while we are still in this body. That part of man that is eternal is his spirit. It was of man that God said, “let us make man in our own image.” I particularly appreciate the words of Matthew Henry who wrote, “The soul was not made of the earth, as the body: pity then that it should cleave to the earth, and mind earthly things.” Then he added, “Fools despise their own souls, by caring for their bodies before their souls.” In the words of David, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” Psalm 14:1.

We need look no further for the source of that first cell, than Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

TEACH US HOW TO PRAY


We often hear the prayer found in Matthew 6, called “The Lord’s Prayer”. It is not. Neither is it an appropriate prayer for Christians today, as it was for the apostles who asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. They had seen him pray. and knew Jesus talked with his Father regularly, sometimes spending the night doing so. They were familiar with the prayers of the Pharisees and other religious leaders of their day and could not help but note the difference Just as Jesus’ teaching was different, so were his prayers different. This led them to ask to be taught by him how to pray. While this prayed will teach us “how to pray,” we must remember that we live under a different covenant than our Lord who lived under the Law of Moses. For example, the kingdom referred to in “Thy kingdom come,” came on the first Pentecost after this. (Acts 2.) Christians are a part of the kingdom. It is not something still to come in the future. We can, and should, praise him for his kingdom and that we are permitted to be a part of it. Jesus’ own prayer is to be found after his resurrection. therefore falls under the new covenant, and is recorded in John 17, “That they may all be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee.” He was praying for us all, even today and all to come. Let’s look for a moment at some points in that lesson on prayer.

It is a private conversation between man and his Father. It is not a display for the sake of being seen and heard by men. The difference is that if one is leading a group in prayer, he is speaking on behalf of all who hear. The man on the street corner is praying to be seen, and being seen is his reward.

Since it is a private conversation, find a place alone where you can open your heart to God. An inner room is suggested, and with the door closed.

A prayer need not be lengthy to be effective. What it must be, is to be sincere, and from the heart. Pagan religions thrive on long prayers, using any means to repeat them over and over as often as possible, even to the extent of small flags with a prayer written on them and placed where the wind will cause them to flutter, or prayer bells that jingle in the wind, or beads to be counted off so many times. Don’t forget, many “praise choruses” are really prayers set to music. Repeating them over and over makes them no more effective as prayers, and are certain to exhaust any elderly singers kept standing for long periods of time.

God knows our needs and sometimes lets us know so as happened to myself once several years ago. I had been praying day after day fervently several times a day about the need to replace our small Bible shop with something more suitable. In the middle of one of my prayers, God softly spoke in my inner ear, just once, “Be still and know that I am God.” I learned my lesson there and then. A little over a year later we owned a spacious Bible shop, including a church building, and an apartment all in one complex. Our Lord knew what we needed, and when the time was right, He provided it.

Compare these points with the scripture and the prayer Jesus taught his apostles.

Matthew 6:5-13 - “When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into the closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to the Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
After this manner therefore pray ye: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed by 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.”

This short, directly to the point, from the heart, meeting our needs, with praise to our Father.

Prayer is a private conversation with our heavenly Father who made all things and loved us enough to send His Son to die for us and pay the price for our sins. (John 3:16).

Monday, January 21, 2008

WHY DID GOD MAKE HELL?

More than one word in the original manuscripts of the New Testament have been translated as “Hell” Three of them are Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna. Sheol and Hades both refer to the place of the dead, or where we go when we die before the day of judgment. The other word is Gehenna, and it refers to the final destination after the judgment. The Catholic teaching of Purgatory is not found or described in the Bible at all. Once people have died, they cannot return to this world until God raises them up for their judgment and to be sent to their final destination, whether that be Heaven or Hell. Once a person dies, he is beyond anything that we can do. He is there to wait for the judgment. This is made quite clear in the account of Lazarus and the rich man found in Luke 16:19-31. Scripture does not call this a parable. It reads:

“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores. And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died and was buried: And in hell (Hades) he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this place. But Abraham said Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren: that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses, and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”

“There was.” This is not a parable, this is fact. This was before the judgment. The rich man was in a place where he could not reach or be reached by his brothers who were still living. He was in a place where he could see Abraham and Lazarus and that where they were was that was not at all like where he was. He could not go there, nor could they come to him. There was a great gulf between them. The former beggar had no shortage of anything where he was. This was Hades or Sheol, here translated as hell.

In Revelation 20:11-15, on the other hand, we read of a completely different place. This is a prophesy of the judgment and following.

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire,” (Gehenna is translated here “lake of fire”)

Chapter 21 tells us about the destination of those who are written in the book of life.

At this point the Rich man would be judged according to his works, and whether his name is in the book of life. This would be the same book that is referred to in Acts 2:47, “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Those who lived before the establishment of the church would have already been added; to them would be added those who repented of their sins and were baptized in obedience to His command, the key to the church and heaven used by Peter, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Now let us come back to the question, “Why did God make hell?”

2 Peter 1-5. “Put there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that brought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.”

One could go on, but God created the fires of hell for the false prophets, false teachers, and the angels that sinned by rejecting Him to follow Satan. Gehenna was created as a final place for all that is evil, and of course all who reject truth for lies, and follow Satan the father of liars.

Christ said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” God loved mankind and made a way for all mankind to come to be with him eternally.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

THE END OF ALL THINGS IS AT HAND

“But the end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch with prayer. And above all things have fervent charity* among your-selves: for charity* (love) shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen." 1 Peter 4:7-11.

People panic about “global warming,” about” the destruction of the rainforests of the world, about the accumulation of toxic gasses in the air, holes in the ozone layer, the demise of certain wild animals, whales, mercury in the ocean, on and an. These things may be true. Perhaps there is reason for concern, but aside from those who know the Word, there is little, in fact nearly no interest in that which is absolutely fact. “The end of all things is at hand.” God so led the writers of our Bible, that every generation from the time of the writing has been the warning that all things, as we know them, are going to come to an end. If Peter used the words, “at hand,” how much more so is that true today?

That fact is the background of Christ’s parable about the foolish and wise brides-maids, in the parable, the groom came, the wedding began, and some of the wedding party were prepared and ready, but some were not. Those who had to go buy oil for their lamps were denied entrance. That is the caution for this generation, as with all those which have gone before, be ready at any moment, for the groom is coming and the wedding is going to take place. It might be today. It might be tomorrow, or it might be a thousand years yet, but for us he says, always be ready. Many won’t be ready, and they are not concerned about it at all. They can cry “The world is going to the dogs,” but do nothing. Recently, as my wife and I were taking our early morning walk, we observed a woman taking her large breed dog for a walk on its leash. She deliberately took it to a neighbor’s yard, allowed it to relieve itself, and then walked away leaving everything behind. Too many people think of the rules as applyig only to others.

We pollute the garden and leave it all behind. God created a perfect world. The scriptures tell us repeatedly in Genesis, “God saw that it was good.” His creation was perfect. He placed man in the garden to care for it. Adam was the first caretaker gardener. He was placed in charge of everything. But what has he done? On the same walk, we noted a cool drink bottle that had been tossed into our garden, probably from a passing car, and we picked up a screw that was lying on the road, perhaps looking for a passing tire, and around the corner a small tree lay by the side of the road in a vacant lot. Another stroll revealed a small cupboard, a refrigerator and a box springs. One wonders if perhaps man is not hastening “the end” by his own actions. Must we live in a neighborhood dump?

If man had not turned to a life of sin, God would not have sent the flood. If today’s men go the same way of destruction, and they are, they have been warned. The end is coming and this destruction will not be a flood, it will be by fire. The way to escape it is through Jesus Christ. He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” He also said “No man cometh unto the Father but by me.” Heaven won’t have dog messes on a clean lawn, screws in the streets, dead trees and abandoned furniture by the curbs. Why not? Because, it will be occupied by people who care and why have “fervent charity.*” Its citizens will be people who have made ready in this life for that better life to come.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

WHY WE READ THE BIBLE

This scripture is a portion of the second letter written by the apostle Paul to his much younger, we might call him an apprentice, Timothy. Timothy often traveled with Paul, but on this occasion was elsewhere, thus the letter. As was the usual case, this letter was meant also for others as well those addressed. In fact it is so timely even today, that it is where we turn for encouragement and instruction.

“Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:14-17.

TIMOTHY HAD A BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE OF SCRIPTURE

This reminds me of the flannel graphs which I often used to teach Bible lessons years ago. They were put together in layers, and the first layer was always of a background on which all the rest of the story was built. It might be a plain blue covered board, or it might be and interior, perhaps in the temple, or perhaps a field or sea shore, depending in what one wanted to present.

Timothy’s background was that as a young man who had been reared and taught by devout mother and grandmother before her. Lois and Eunice had taught him well.

THE TIME TO PREPARE THIS BACKGROUND TEACHING IS IN CHILDHOOD,

They began when he was a small boy by telling him the stories found in the books of history of the Old Testament. To this they added the teachings of the Law, God had given through Moses, and onto that they added the prophecies of the prophets. These built into the young man the background for the fulfillment of those prophecies. When Paul came along he was added the final layer, Jesus Christ, and the church. The picture was completed.

THE NEW TESTAMENT COMPLETES THE FULL PICTURE

Paul carried forward the completed message of salvation founded on the foundation of faith in the divinity of Jesus, that he is the Christ the Son of God, the Messiah and our Redeemer, if we will. The scriptures are the source of all Christian doctrine, they convict us of our hopelessness as sinners without Christ, they instruct us as to what can be done about this condition. They give us an example and a goal for our lives. Aside from Christ and the Holy Spirit, we could never come anywhere near attaining that goal, perfection. But because he loved us he gave his life for us taking our sins upon himself, then leaving us a guide to dwell within us, the Holy Spirit. The brilliance of the Holy Spirit‘s influence upon our lives has a blinding effect. Even as the Children of Israel looked in awe upon Moses whose face glowed after he had talked with God, his presence with us can not but make a difference with. He is still with us, he no longer sees us as something made of dust, but as His children coming home.

WE READ THE BIBLE TO LEARN THESE THINGS.

Without the Bible, there is no other source where we can learn what God wants us t know.