Author: Chet Bishop

Chet Bishop is one of the pastors at True Hope Christian Fellowship Church, in Forest Grove, Oregon. He has been a believer since 1973, and has been teaching actively since 1976. He supports himself and his family by making and repairing violin-family instruments.
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Christ the Light:

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Christ the Light: “I am the Light of the World.”
© C. O. Bishop, 2011 Revised 2021

John 1:4, John 8:12

Introduction

The Gospel of John has one central theme: “The person and work of Jesus Christ; God in the flesh.” John makes no apology for presenting Jesus Christ as God. He is God! He makes no attempt to “prove” his existence nor does he try to “justify” his claims. He simply presents Him as He is and tells the narratives in such a way as to demonstrate the truth of those claims.

He began with Jesus Christ, as the Word of God. It’s an odd statement, but one supported throughout the Scriptures. He progressed to presenting him as God, specifically the Creator. Again, it turns out, this is supported throughout the Scriptures. He presents Him as the one source of life, and, ultimately as The life. It turns out that this, too, is supported by the Scriptures from Genesis, onward. Now he presents Him as The Light.  John 1:4 “…in him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.” And Jesus confirms that claim, saying that He, Himself, is the “Light of the World.” (John 8:12)

So, let’s go back to the beginning of time and see whether the Scriptures also support this notion.

The Light at the Beginning of Time

Genesis 1:3 “…and God said let there be light, and there was light, and God saw that the light was good…” God created physical light, without a source other than Himself. The light was good: God said so. Then (Genesis 1:4) God separated the light from the darkness. Light is by its nature separate from darkness—in fact, darkness can only be defined as the relative absence of light. So evidently when God said “let there be light” there was light everywhere. It permeated the universe. Then, for God to separate the Light from the darkness, He must have limited the light to a discrete source or sources, so that shadows could exist. In terms of our solar system (which was not yet created) it meant that there was a single source of light in relation to which the world rotated on its axis, and, as the Scripture says, “…there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.” The sun was not yet created: God was the source of the light. He will again be the only source, after the end of time as we know it. Revelation 21:23 says “…the city will have no need of the Sun or Moon, as …the Lamb will be the light…”

The Light in the World, Today

The New Testament spells out this truth, in a variety of ways. 1st John 1:5 says “This is the message that we have heard of him and declare unto you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” In this instance it is not about the physical light so much as the moral and spiritual light, as the context goes on to talk about our response to the light, and how it affects our relationship to God.

Different creatures respond differently to physical light. Green plants thrive on it and will bend toward the prevailing light-source in order to maximize the amount of light received. In fact, virtually all physical life depends, ultimately, upon the physical light of the sun. Green plants are the only creatures capable of deriving energy for food production directly from the light. All other life depends ultimately upon green plants for food, whether as a primary or a secondary source. (Snakes, for example, don’t eat vegetables, but they swallow whole those animals that do.) The only exceptions seem to be some very small deep-sea creatures that live next to hot vents of water coming from the ocean floor, and somehow live on that energy source. And it is possible that even they are ultimately dependent upon the Sun. Mushrooms don’t like the sun, but they live on the carcasses of plant and animal life that do thrive in the light. We all live by the light, whether we admit it or not.

Animal life is somewhat divided in its response to physical light: Cockroaches and rats definitely prefer darkness. Bats and owls do, too, for different reasons. 

J. Vernon McGee told how, as a young boy, his chores required him to go out to the barn in the darkness, to check on the livestock. He didn’t much like the experience, as many can understand. He carried a lantern with him to light his way, and to allay his fears of the deep shadow. When he was older the fears may have disappeared, but the memories remained. He told how there were two things that happened the moment he walked into the barn with the lantern: The rats ran for cover, fearing him and the light. The birds, roosting in the rafters, thought it was morning, and began to twitter and sing. What was the difference? Had he terrorized the rats at some time? Had he led a choir for the birds? No; of course not. The natures of the creatures were simply being revealed by their response to the light.

This is a good principle to recognize in life. The nature of the person will be revealed by their response to the light. Jesus said, (John 3:19-21) “This is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and the world loved darkness better than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” The character of the world is revealed by its response to the light.

“I AM the Light of the World”

In John 8:12, Jesus said, “…I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.” You see, some flee from the light…some follow it. You have to determine what response you will give to the Light of the World. Most of you, if not all, have already responded to Him initially by placing your trust in Him as your Savior. But you still have an old nature—you still have that character within you that flees the light, and loves the darkness. There is a very good reason that bar-rooms are usually very dark places: the practices of those who frequent such places do not reflect a love of the light.

So, as believers, we are to recognize that, to begin with, (Colossians 1:12, 13) we have been made fit partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light (that’s the team to which we now belong) and have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son of God. This is an accomplished transaction—a done deal—nothing can be done to make it “happen more thoroughly”, neither can anything be done to undo it. That is simply where we now live! The next question, obviously, is “But how?”

How Shall We Then Live?

In light of this truth (that we have been moved from darkness into light,) what ought we to do? How ought we to live? Godgives us the answer through the apostle Paul: (Ephesians 5:6-14) he concludes, “but now are ye light in the Lord…walk as children of light”

Specifically, he begins, in Ephesians 5, to point out some of the differences that being saved has made, and should make. He says in verses three through six that the behavior of the unsaved is in keeping with their old nature—the only one they have. He lists several things that the natural men regularly practice, but which should be set aside by Christians.

  • Fornication
  • Uncleanness
  • Covetousness
  • Filthiness
  • (coarse) Jesting

Paul points out the logic of the change, saying that people who practice such things have no part in the kingdom of Christ and of God. By the way, the use here of the word “kingdom” does not refer to the Millennial Kingdom, but simply the “dominion of God” as evidenced in the lives of the believers. We are not to take lightly our new position in Christ. The Church, proper, is not a kingdom, but a body, with a head, not a king. However, the Head of the Body of Christ is Christ, the King. We are collectively the “bride” of Christ—but our bridegroom is the King.

Paul goes on to say that we once behaved in similar fashion to the World, because we were of the world. We walked in darkness because we were of the darkness. Paul says, “…but now are ye light in the Lord…walk as children of light.” We are to behave like the children of light because we are the children of light. God is the light, and we are his offspring in Christ.

Now—what does that look like? How do we “walk in the light”. Peter was also given something to share with us regarding that question: (2nd Peter 2:19) “We have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place.” The Word of God (remember that Jesus is the Word of God) is still our light. We have been given the Written Word of God as a light by which to walk in this dark world. How long? Until the Living Word of God comes, and we see Him face to face.We are to apply the written Word of God to our lives in every area, learning to live in obedience to His Word, until He returns.

I carry a small flashlight, as a rule…but I only need it at night. Once the sun is up, I have no need of the little lamp. There is coming a day when you will no longer need your Bible, as Jesus will be literally, physically shining, and all of us will walk by his light. But He commands us to walk by his light now, as well, and to allow His light to spill over into other’s lives in such a way as to attract them, not repulse them. In Matthew 5:16, He said, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.”

1st John 1:7 “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”   Philippians 2:15 says,  “that ye may be blameless and harmless, the children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”

Each individual person’s response will be partly dependent upon our use of that light:

  • Some will reject the light in whatever form it appears.
  • Some will be drawn to the light “as a general principle” but reject any portion of the light that specifically addresses their own sin, thus rejecting the light of the Gospel, proper: Light dispels darkness…if we will not allow that light to touch the darkness in our own hearts, then it cannot accomplish its primary function.
  • Others are drawn to the light, initially, but may be driven away by the behavior of the one holding the light. All of us have known of Christians (or those claiming to be Christians) who live in such a way as to repulse all around them. Bear in mind that James says “the seed of righteousness is sown in peace of them who make peace.” (James 3:18)
  • The cheerful, gentle, loving behavior of believers reflects the light and the Love of God and is attractive to the lost world. Jesus said (John 13:35) “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

There is coming a day when we will fully experience the light of God and bask in His presence: Revelation 21:23 says,“The city has no need for the sun or moon…the Lamb is its light.” But in the meantime, let’s learn to live as the children of light, and shine as beacons into the darkness of the world around us. Raging against the darkness will do no good. Only light conquers darkness. The smallest candle dispels darkness within its sphere of influence. Your light can either draw people to Christ or be obscured by your lifestyle, your actions and your words.

Please choose to be the light that God has chosen you to be, now, reflecting His light, not casting shadows of sin. Each of us has to consider what shadows we may be casting into the lives of those around us. Then we must confess those sins, and daily seek to “walk in the light as He is in the light.”

Lord Jesus, we know that, on our own, we cannot live in such a way as to please you, and to act as your ambassadors. Please overrule the sin ion our lives and fill us with the light of your presence, so as to make us a testimony of your Grace. Love the World through us and allow us to draw others to You.

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“I Am the Bread of Life:”

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“I Am the Bread of Life”

© 2021 C. O. Bishop

John 6:14-64, especially verses 35, 48, 51, 63

Introduction

Last week we discussed how Jesus was introduced as being the source of life, in John 1:4 “In Him was Life, and the Life was the light of men.”  We explored that idea in the context of our communion service, where we shared unleavened bread, as a testimony of His death for us.

But, skipping ahead to John chapter six, we can read the story of the “Feeding of the Five Thousand,” where Jesus supernaturally supplied physical food (in the form of bread and fish) to 5,000 men and their families. In verses 14 and 15, we see that they were pretty enthusiastic about that miraculous feeding: they said amongst themselves that Jesus was obviously the promised “prophet,” and they evidently were going to try to grab him and proclaim him to be their king. Jesus knew their intentions, so He went away and hid himself on a hill until His disciples had left by boat for Capernaum (16-21), and then, by night, He caught up with them by walking on the water (which is another story, in itself.) But (22-26) those same people found boats and sought Him out the next day, on the other side of the lake. He knew why they had come, and chided them, saying, effectively, “You only came to get more bread…”

But He went on to say (27) their priorities were wrong, and that they needed to focus on food that would last for eternity, not just the food that would only give temporary satisfaction. He said that they could only get that food from the “Son of man…for Him hath the Father sealed.”

The people asked Jesus, then, “What shall we do that we might work the works of God?” (It is interesting to me how little we have changed: we still tend to think in terms of “What do I have to do to ‘get in good’ with God?”) Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.”

Their response (30) seems incredible, to me: they said, “Why should we believe you?” They actually challenged Him, saying, “What sign do you bring that we should believe you? What work can you do to prove your credentials?” This is the very same group, who, the day before, had been so convinced that Jesus was the promised prophet, and who had intended to take him by force and make him king!

But now they argued, and said, “Our Fathers ate manna in the desert, for it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

I am the Bread of Life

Jesus reminded them that the manna—the “bread” they were referring to—had not been given to them by Moses as they apparently thought, but by God Himself. He went on to say, “The Bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life unto the World.” They liked the idea, (though it is clear they did not understand it) and asked that He always give them that bread: so, He finally introduced Himself as “the bread of life,” in John 6:35-40, and throughout the following passage.

This passage has frequently been used to teach the Lord’s Supper. But, except for the picture involved in the Lord’s Table, this passage has little to do with the Communion table. Remember how John the Baptist introduced Jesus, back in John 1:29: He said “behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the World!”  What Lamb was John alluding to? The sacrificial Lamb, probably specifically the Passover Lamb, as, later (1st Corinthians 5:7) Jesus is called “Christ our Passover.” What did the people do with the Passover Lamb? They ate him! They struck his blood onto the lintel and the two doorposts (trace the necessary motion and see what you get: I love that picture!) and roasted the lamb, and everyone in the household ate of that lamb! They Partook of his death, they Profited by his death, and by doing so, they Proclaimed that He died for them, personally. They Partook, they Profited, and they Proclaimed!

Jesus already told the people how to “work the works of God,” back in verse 29: He said, “This is the Work of God, that ye believe on Him whom God has sent!” Why would he suddenly change it to the physical partaking of Communion? And yet, there are huge branches of what is called “Christendom” who teach exactly that!

Partaking of the Lamb

We have been called to “Partake of the Lamb,” just as the Jews, the night of the original Passover, were called to partake of the lamb: when they dipped the Hyssop into the blood and struck it onto the lintel and the two doorposts of their home, they were unknowingly looking forward to the Crucifixion. We knowingly look back to the Cross when we take Communion.

But the point of their eating of that Passover Lamb, was that they confessed that He died for their sins. I have occasionally met people who “hated hunters for killing animals,” though they themselves also ate meat. They somehow felt that paying someone else to kill their meat for them and prepare it for the kitchen absolved them from the “guilt” of actually killing the animal. I don’t like killing animals, but I do eat meat, and I have many, many times killed the animals myself, and butchered them in preparation for cooking. I don’t enjoy that, either, but I see it as a necessary part of the process, and I understand that, regardless of where I get animal protein, an animal had to die for me to get that food. The animal died at my hand, whether personally, or many times removed. (KFC chicken was raised, butchered, frozen, processed, seasoned and cooked; all by people I have never met. But I still took part in the death of that bird, by eating it.)

Was it the physical eating of that sacrifice that saved them, that night in Egypt? No, the Blood went on the lintel and two doorposts by faith. God saw the Blood and passed over that house: no one died there. We are called upon to place our trust in the shed Blood of Jesus. Romans 3:25 says that Jesus is set forth as a propitiation (A sacrifice that satisfies the righteousness of God) “…through faith in His Blood.”

When I ask someone, “Do you believe that Jesus died for your sin?” they may reply, “I believe He died for the sins of the whole world!” (That is a reasonable reply, but it does not answer the question.) So, I ask again: “Yes, but did Jesus’s Blood pay for your sin, personally?”

Some of them continue to “hedge” and say, “He died for the sins of the whole world!” At that point I begin to believe that they have never “Partaken of the Lamb!” They apparently don’t see Jesus as their own Savior, but only in the generic sense: “The Savior of the World.” (He is “good in theory,” but not to be taken personally.)

We Partake of the Lamb the moment that we personally place our trust in Jesus’s blood at the Cross, as full payment for our own sins. Our partaking in Communion is just a reminder and a personal testimony of that fact. “We do show the Lord’s death until He comes!” We testify of His death, His burial, His resurrection and His second coming, when we share in the Lord’s table. Also, we are reminding ourselves of our unity in Christ: there is only one source of that living bread. We are all born again into the same “Body of Christ.”

Profiting by the Lamb: A Continuing Feast

We are called to a continual feast, though, not just a one-time meal of a long-ago sacrifice, nor even a once-per-month “nibble” of a single morsel of bread, and a teaspoonful of juice. How do we “feast upon the Living Bread?” There is a chorus, “I’ve been feasting on the Living Bread; I’ve been drinking at the Fountainhead, and ‘Whoso drinketh,’ Jesus said, ‘…shall never, never thirst again!’” Now, that sounds good! So, how do we do it? How do we “feast on the Living Bread?” Where do we drink deep of the fountain of living water promised in John 7:37-39?

There are some “clues” as to the answer to those questions, scattered through the Bible.

Isaiah 55:1-7 “1Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

If we read only the first two verses, here, we can at least see that we are to come to God for both the food and the drink He offers. But read on, and there is something interesting.  Verses six and seven tell how to feed on that feast.

“6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

Notice that God requires repentance from our old, self-centered thoughts and actions, before the blessing of God can flow. And…there is a time-limit! “Seek ye the LORD while He may be found!” We only get one shot at life! Use your remaining time wisely… profiting by the Lamb!

As a believer in Jesus, you have already received the fountain of the Living Water: you have already begun to feed on the Bread of Life. But we are called to continually turn to Him, and confess our sins, and walk with Him in the light. (1st John 1:7)

1st Peter 2:2 reminds us that, “as newborn babes” we should “desire the sincere milk of the Word” that we may grow thereby!

2nd Peter 1:4 says we are to believe the “exceeding great and precious Promises” of God, so that we may become partakers of the Divine nature.

Jesus said, more than once, that those who thirsted should come to Him and receive the Living Water: and in John 7:37-39, John clearly spells out that the Holy Spirit is that “spring of Living Water” that Jesus was offering. In the Church Age, every single believer has received the Holy Spirit. Every single believer is sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit, and every single believer is called upon to not grieve the Holy Spirit, not quench the Holy Spirit, but to walk in the Spirit.

So, the Written Word of God is where we are to find our food, and that we are to drink of the Holy Spirit, as we read, as we study, as we pray for understanding, and as we seek to obey Jesus, the Living Word. We also find refreshment by the flow of the Holy Spirit between the saints, in fellowship with other believers, as we rejoice together in the Person of Christ.

Proclaiming His Death until He Comes

There are people, still today, who attempt to turn this into a pattern of works: a “sacrament” to be physically followed, in taking communion. This is folly, as Jesus was definitely not “teaching cannibalism,” but laying out a commemoration for us to follow. He was still living in His body, so that bread was not, nor did it somehow become human flesh. His blood was still flowing in His veins, so the cup was not literally His blood: He said, “this cup is the New Testament in My Blood.” So, the real “New Testament” could not begin until that Blood was shed at the Cross. In 1st Corinthians 11:26 we clearly see that we are to “show,” or demonstrate…testify of… the Lord’s death until He comes. It is a commemoration…a memorial…and a proclamation.

The original Passover on the night before the Israelites left Egypt, was literal: had they not done exactly what they were told, then the judgment of God would have fallen on them just as surely as it did upon the Egyptians. But every Passover feast since then has been a commemoration of the original. There was no continuing threat that “their firstborn would be dead in the morning” if they failed to obey. It was still required of the Israelites, year by year, but it was strictly commemorative. Faith and obedience have been required, in all ages, for all believers.

In John 6:63, Jesus said that “It is the Spirit that gives life: the Flesh profiteth nothing.” This is a matter of the Spirit, not the physical flesh. It is intriguing to read in 1st Corinthians 5:8 that we are to “keep the feast…with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Physical bread cannot have “sincerity and truth” baked into it. But as we study God’s Word and teach God’s Word and attempt to apply His Word to our lives, we can either do so in sincerity and truth, or for any one of a host of other motives. There are those who deliberately twist God’s Word, to their own advantage…sometimes even among evangelical believers, as they attempt to “prove themselves right” about some obscure point of doctrine. There are also those who “peddle” God’s Word as a commercial product (2nd Corinthians 2:17 NIV, NASB) King James Version simply calls this “corrupting” the Word of God. When we attempt to “peddle God’s Word for profit,” as the NIV renders the passage, I suspect that we are very likely “corrupting” it in the process. The Word of God is supposed to be a free source of food and drink for all who come to it in faith. When we turn it into a “business,” we have already contaminated it by our wrong motives.

The Bread of Life is Free to the Hungry Soul

The invitation of God in Isaiah 55:1, was to “come and eat, without money and without price!” The final invitation in the Bible, in Revelation 22:17 is: “Whosoever will, let him come…and take of the Water of Life freely!” This is not supposed to become a “commercial product” of Man: it is a free gift of God to all who thirst. It is not religion: it is a relationship with Jesus!

Incidentally, Jeremiah 2:13 tells us how God feels about our attempts to be self-sufficient in our self-made wisdom and philosophies: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”

God considers it to be a horrible, unbelievably bad error, when we believers trade God’s Word for any other source of wisdom or nourishment. It is bad enough that we are trading that which is alive, fresh, and flowing for what is stagnant and contaminated: but the “cisterns” we choose can’t even hold water, so the “wisdom and nourishment” we thought we gained in the exchange turn out to be nothing but dust and ashes. We need the fresh flow of God’s Word and His Spirit!

Jesus, the Living Word, is our only source of wisdom and nourishment: we need to fix our hopes on Him alone for all things. And Jesus is the Living Bread that we are to offer to those around us, in personal evangelism! We cannot feed those who are not hungry, but we are commanded to offer Jesus to the whole world (not offering “our church”—offering Jesus!)

Evangelism is nothing more complicated than one beggar telling another beggar where to find free food. We enthusiastically tell our friends where we got our new shoes, or about a book we have read, or a song we like. Why not be that enthusiastic about Jesus, the living Bread, when the World around us is literally starving to death without Him? You know how to Partake of the Living Bread: you have already done so! You know how to Profit by that feast and you are learning to do so more consistently. We need to learn how to consistently Proclaim His death and burial and resurrection, and to offer the resulting feast to all who will listen. It is too easy to simply “keep the food to ourselves,” and not share it.

Lord Jesus, open our hearts to the World, and let us share the Living Bread and the Living water in compassion for the Lost souls who are all around us. Make us reflections of your light in this dark World, and a source of Life by your Word and by your Spirit. Give us Grace to Live for You!

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Christ the Life

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Christ the Life

© C. O. Bishop 2011 Revised 2021

John 1:4;

Introduction:

We have begun a series in the Gospel of John, with the intent of refocusing our eyes upon the Person of Christ—to see Jesus for who He truly is. This is not an attempt to reshape our mental image of what Jesus “looked like” in his physical humanity when He walked on Planet Earth. Beyond the simple fact that He was born a Hebrew in the Middle East, there was nothing unusual about His appearance. Isaiah says there was nothing physically special about Him to attract us to Him. Beyond that, it simply doesn’t matter what He looked like back then: He doesn’t look that way today! We are given several instances of his appearing in His glorified form, and they are all in agreement that He no longer looks like a mere man of Galilee. So that is not our focus.

What we need to concentrate on today, is who and what He is…not what He looks like. And, to do that, we need to go back to the beginning.

In the Beginning

  • John 1:4 “In Him was life…” (key verse)
  • Genesis chapters 1-3—all living things, plant, animal, and human, as well as all spirit beings, derive their Life from God.
  • Genesis 2:17 Christ the Creator is also Christ the Judge (compare John 5:22), who can give or take life.

We spoke last week of Christ, the Creator…God, in the flesh. He created all things, walked in the cool of the day in the Garden, with Adam and Eve, and established Himself as the only Judge of all things.

  • Genesis 3:7-21 Beginning of the plan of Salvation

In the first three chapters of Genesis, we saw that he is the only source of life, whether plant, animal, human, or spiritual (including angelic life). He created the now-fallen angel (Satan,) the living being who tempted Adam and Eve. He created the forbidden living fruit they ate, and the living fig leaves with which they sought to cover their sin. He created the serpent, the living creature which Satan used as the implement of the temptation. He created the living animal (whether lamb or otherwise) who died as a substitute for the sinning humans, and with whose skin He clothed Adam and Eve.

Jesus, the Creator, God in the Flesh, has been the source of all life, for all of time and eternity.

In Prophecy

  • Ezekiel 37:1-14 (Valley of dry bones)

Ezekiel was shown a valley, filled with very dead human bones. This was a vision, not physical reality, but, like every other vision from God, it had a specific purpose and message: (God does not hand out visions for entertainment purposes.) The bones were completely dry, baked in the middle-eastern sun. They were dead beyond simple death…very dry, the scripture says: Dry beyond any thought of life in any form, and evidently scattered, separated, and scrambled, as well. In a word, they were hopeless in death.

God asked Ezekiel whether it was possible that these bones should live. Ezekiel wisely replied that God alone would know. “Thou knowest, Lord!” Only the Living God knows how to bring life to the dead. God ordered Ezekiel to prophesy to the dead bones and call them to be joined again into discrete skeletons, then to be covered with healthy flesh, sinews, organs and skin. The noise must have been unsettling, as the bones shifted, rattled, and found their mates, and became a valley of still non-living bodies, rather than a valley of dry bones.

Then God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind, and call it to bring breath into the bodies, and they came to life and stood upon their feet, a vast army. God went on to say that this vision represented the entire nation of Israel. He said that they were dead, separated from Him, and cut off from the only source of life. (In the Bible, death is always some sort of “separation:” physical death separates the spirit and soul of a person from their physical body. Spiritual death means the person is separated from fellowship with God, the source of all life.) But God said that he would put HIS Spirit in them, and they would live…not just an individual human spirit for each of them.

So, when has this happened? Has ALL Israel ever become spiritually alive; filled with the Spirit of the Living God? No! But the day is coming when they will do so! That fits our experience as well: each of us was spiritually dead, separated from God, without Christ and without hope. But God has resurrected us with Christ, placed us in Christ, and seated us in the Heavenlies with Him.

In the New Testament

  • Ephesians 2:1-6 “And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins…”
  • Ephesians 2:11-13 “You were without God…without Hope…but now, in Christ Jesus…”

Each of us has been just as hopeless and dried up as those bones in the valley of the vision, and each of us has been resurrected with Christ, indwelt by his Spirit, and made alive, forever. Jesus himself said that God is the only source of life, and He Himself is the only route to the source.

  • John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” Notice that the “one true God” stands alone in every way: He is separate from His creation, in His Holiness, and Unique beyond comparison. There are no other Living Gods. Only the false “gods,” created by Man.
  • John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” Jesus made no provision for other ways by which the seeker can find God…he flatly stated that it is impossible to approach the Father except through the Son.

Throughout the earthly ministry of Christ, the way of salvation was stated repeatedly. We often quote John 3:16 “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Faith has always been the avenue of approach to God:

  • Genesis 15:6 states that Abram “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
  • John 20:31 says“But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that, believing, ye might have Life through His name.”
  • 1st John 5:12 “He that hath the Son hath life…”
    • The way is clear, the means is faith, and there is no other way. Anyone who hears this message should understand that life is filled with decisions wherein there is only one choice to be made, and the results are permanent. This isn’t even unusual: there are numerous destinations on earth which have only one practical route by which to approach.
  • 1st Corinthians 15:22 “All in Adam died…all in Christ shall be made alive.” Adam made a choice that plunged the entire human race into spiritual ruin. All died in him. Jesus made a choice that opened the way for a return to life. He went to the cross deliberately, with that single goal in mind. The result? All in Christ have eternal life. All in Adam are spiritually dead. All in Christ are spiritually alive.

Every generation has had its doubts. In John chapter six, Jesus had preached that he himself was the Bread of Life. Many were offended by that message (because of the implications of deity, I suppose) and left him. He questioned his twelve disciples as to whether they too would leave, and they confessed that they had nowhere else to go.

  • John 6:66-69 “To whom would we go? Thou hast the words of Eternal Life…”

It is good that they saw him so clearly as that. He himself stated that he was the source of life.

  • John 10:27, 28 “I give unto them Eternal life, and they shall never perish.” That pretty well covers the future of any believer.
  • John 5:24 “…He that heareth my Word and believeth on Him who sent me has eternal life, and shall not come into condemnation, but has crossed over from death into life” That covers our past, present and future.

In Us

Now, what about us today? Can we really know for certain that we have eternal life, today? Yes! 1st John 5:11-13 states that God wants us to know, and that the life is found only in the person of Christ. Notice, again, that there is no other source. Jesus is the life. So, as you have received the risen Christ as your Savior, you can join in the confident assertion that “we have died with Him, and our new life is secure in Him:”

  • Colossians 3:3 “You have died, and your life is hid in Christ…” (Past and present tense.)
  • Colossians 3:4 “When Christ, who is your life, appears…then shall ye appear in Glory, with him” (future tense.)
  • Galatians 2:19, 20 “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (That is our reason for living!)

In Practice

So, what do we do about all this?

  • 2nd Corinthians 5:14, 15  “for the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge; that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that he died for all that they which live might not henceforth live unto themselves but unto Him who died and rose again.”

But, if we are to “live for him,” what are we supposed to be doing? 2nd Corinthians 5:16-21 says what our job is. We are ambassadors for Christ. You left a job as a “messenger” for and a “tool” of Satan, (whether you knew it or not) and began a job as full-fledged ambassador of the living God, consciously living for Him and representing Him. How’s that for a career move?! You not only have been given Eternal life, but have been given the privilege of handing out the good news of Eternal life in Christ to the whole world.

One thing that immediately becomes clear, once we have received this new Life from the Lord Jesus, is that we are to use it to His honor in all ways. He prayed for unity for the believers…that the World would know of the truth of the Gospel by two things:

  1. The Love (Agapé Love) they have for one another (John 13:35), and
  2. The Unity they share in Him. (John 17:21)

Communion Service:

We will celebrate and commemorate that unity in Christ, in the Lord’s Table, today. There was only one loaf and one cup in the original Eucharist. We have separate wafers and cups, but One Lord, and One faith. We are to partake in this ordinance in fellowship with The Lord and with each other.  We are warned to take the Lord’s table seriously, not flippantly, or casually, and to not partake in an unworthy manner. But we are not told to not partake. We are simply told to partake in proper reverence and peace with one another.

1st Corinthians 11:23-30 is the passage we usually read, when approaching the Lord’s Table. But it is important to consider the context, from verse 17 and following: This was corrective teaching, specifically intended to correct a pervasive sin in the church at Corinth. They had been conducting the Lord’s Supper in conjunction with their community meals, and not even sharing their food at the community meals. Fellowship between believers was being routinely destroyed, and the Lord’s Table was being dishonored. We are approaching the Lord’s table in reverence, and in fellowship with one another, and we are called to share together in this way as a testimony of the Lord’s death, His burial, His resurrection and His soon return. Let us take this bread and this cup, in recognition that Jesus is our only source of Life.

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Christ the Creator

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Christ the Creator: the Deity of Christ Displayed
© C. O. Bishop 2011 Revised 2021

Introduction:

One of the themes of the Bible that is universally rejected by the cults, and perhaps not even well understood by genuine believers, is the question of the Deity of Christ: the fact that Jesus is God in the flesh.. Some cults have gone so far as to deliberately wrongly “re-translate” the whole Bible, trying to eliminate that doctrine from the scriptures. But, even using thatdeliberate mistranslation of the Bible, we can demonstrate the Deity of Christ. The fact is that the scriptures are so completely permeated with the Deity of the Messiah that it is impossible to eradicate that doctrine without simply destroying the Bible.

The Word

The Word was and is God—and is the Son—Jesus Christ

John 1:1 says “In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” That is a key verse but by no means the only one. Notice that it does not say the Word was a god. There is at least one cult that teaches that that is what is said here. But the deity of Christ is on display throughout the Gospel of John in particular and is demonstrated throughout the Bible. John goes on to state that the Word is specifically the creator: John 1:3 says he made all things, without exception—all created things are his handiwork. In case we forget who “The Word” really is, John 1:14 says “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and that we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father.” (This means the only begotten Son of God, in case anyone missed it.) John 1:17 names him…it is Jesus Christ.

We have trouble with this concept because it involves the doctrine of the Trinity. I have become convinced over the years that, though we do have all the facts concerning the Trinity, we fall short of understanding the concept. How can three be one…or one be three? There is no question that this is the correct teaching—it is repeated throughout the scriptures. Ironically, even when the scripture is proclaiming the unity of God (Deuteronomy 6:4), the word used for God is “Elohim”—a plural noun, indicating three (Hebrew has singular, dual, and plural nouns). When we get as far as Isaiah 9:6, 7 where the promise of the Messiah is repeated, it specifically states that the promised Son shall be called “the everlasting Father”. At that point, remembering that Jesus repeatedly stated that the Father was greater than He, one has two choices: either accept the doctrine as a Divine paradox, to be accepted, but not necessarily understood, or, barring that, to reject it as a contradiction, since we can’t see a way to reconcile the two statements. Unbelievers choke on the mystery and abandon faith. Believers savor the mystery, recognize joyfully that the God of the Universe is certainly going to exceed the understanding of man, and their faith is deepened by the Joy of the Mystery of God..

The Word—the Son— is the Creator

Some try to take the doctrine piecemeal, saying that, “Yes, the Word was God,” but that “the Father did all the creating through the Son, and that the Son is not truly the Creator.” At some point, one has to admit that they are splitting hairs, but this one is pretty clear– Hebrews 1:10 states that the heaven and earth are the handiwork of the Son—and it is God the Father speaking to God the Son, confirming that the creative work was His.

Hebrews 11:3 says the Word of God created the “worlds,” plural. (I don’t know the significance of the plural, there, unless it is simply recognizing all the heavenly bodies as worlds. Possibly it is a veiled reference to the fact that he also will create the new world that is coming. Remember that God lives outside of Time and Space, so He establishes the eternal “Now.” He can refer to the New Heaven and New Earth in past tense, while, for us, it has not yet happened.) Compare Psalm 33:6, 9, 11.

Colossians 1:16, 17 states that all things were made by the Son and for him, and that they are, in fact, held together by him. It seems to me that we must guard against limiting any member of the Godhead. In Acts 20:28, the Ephesians elders are given a final commission, and in the midst of it, the statement is made that they are to “…shepherd the Flock of God, which He purchased with His own blood.” There is no mention of the Son in that passage. You can either violate the scripture by adding the Son into it, or accept that it is a clear teaching of the trinity—that the Godhead is not divided—that God truly died on the Cross. (Let that one sink in!)

The Word of God is the King of Kings

Jesus stated that ALL authority had been given to him in heaven and earth. (Matthew 28:19) I think when God says “all”, we tend to not always believe it — we modify it in our own minds, and make it “most.” No: Jesus possesses all authority.

Revelation 19:11-16 shows us the returning King, whose name is “The Word of God”…and who holds the title, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”  We are given a panoramic view of the whole spectrum of time, in the Bible. Not only do we see the workings of God from the creation, we see his continuance after the end of time, and we are given hints as to his work before time began. Revelation 13:8 says he is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth.” Jesus referred to the “glory he had with the Father before the World began.”

Aswe already observed, Isaiah 9:6, 7 states that the Son shall be called The Mighty God, and The Everlasting Father. This is a hard idea to grasp, and I suspect that the Israelites simply brushed over it as being “un-knowable.” I can understand that reaction, as, essentially, that is what I am also forced to do. But they rejected the Deity of the Messiah when He came. They denied his authority to forgive sin.  In a way, they were logically required to do so, as only the offended party can extend forgiveness. If he is not God, he cannot forgive sins.

Jesus Forgave Sins

Remember that our sins are an offense to God. (Psalm 51:4) Whenever we sin, we point our fingers in the face of the Eternal God of all time and space and declare ourselves to be the Master, thus denying his sovereignty. This is what happens every time we sin, whether we recognize it or not. Whether it is a “big sin”, or a “little sin”, we declare ourselves to be Master. We determine that we are the managers of our lives and that we will do as we please! There is only room for one sovereign, and we declare ourselves to be that sovereign ruler in our little sphere. Thus, God is the offended party—we have usurped his authority, and rebelled against the throne of God. We may not be conscious of this, when we sin, but it is still true.

Please turn to Mark 2:1-12 (read it). When Jesus looked at the paralytic man who had been lowered through the roof, and said “thy sins are forgiven”, the Pharisees were offended, saying, “Who can forgive sins except God alone?” And they were right! So Jesus posed the question, “Which is easier to say—‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Rise up and walk’?” Obviously, the first statement (“Your sins are forgiven”) could be “cheap talk”…just empty words. When a mere man makes that statement (and the priests of many religions do so,) it is just empty words. Men have no such authority: but there is no outward result to determine whether the forgiveness actually took place. The second phrase, however, demands an immediate, visible, physical result, if the speaker actually has that authority. Jesus asked which statement was more demanding of the speaker. The Pharisees wouldn’t answer, so he said to the paralytic man, “Take up your bed and go home.” And the man obeyed. The point was to prove that Jesus had the authority to forgive sins. He did not deny that only God can forgive sins. He simply proved that he was God.

The Visible, Speaking God in the Old Testament

Throughout the Old Testament, an individual frequently appeared, called “the angel of the LORD.” We are not going to read them all right now, but in every case, he was subsequently revealed to be the LORD, himself…Jehovah-God in visible, physical form. You probably remember these accounts:

  • He walked in the Garden in the cool of the day; and confronted his fallen human creation.
  • He wrestled with one guy (Jacob) and ended up having to dislocate his hip in order to finally subdue the man. Jacob limped throughout the rest of his life as a result of that encounter.
  • Abraham met with three men on the road, at Mamre…and all it says is that The LORD appeared to Abraham… physically. He (and the two angels He brought along) ate the bread, butter, beef, and milk that Abraham served him. He appeared as a physical human being: a man. But He was God!
  •  (Jeremiah 1:4, 5) (turn there) Jeremiah was spoken to by the LORD, who claimed to have created him…forming him in his mother’s womb, and knowing him before the fact…and choosing him for the task at hand.

So what is unusual about all these appearances? Perhaps just the fact that when Moses asked to see the LORD face to face (Exodus 33:20), he was told, “…no man shall see my face and live….” Evidently, Moses was talking to God the Father…why? Because John 1:18 agrees, saying, “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.”

Now; either God’s Word is really inspired or it isn’t. Either John 1:18 is true, and “No man has seen God [the Father] at any time,” or it isn’t true. Since it is true, we can deduce that the person talking to Jeremiah (who, by the way, is the same one who showed up and wrestled with Jacob, talked with Abraham, etc.) must be the Lord Jesus in his pre-incarnate ministry. The Son, the Living Word, has been the “spokesman” of the Godhead from the beginning…and the Creator. So the one talking to Jeremiah is the Son, and he says “I made you!” (…and then proceeds to give Jeremiah his marching orders.) The Creator has the authority to order his creation!

Does it Really Matter?

How should we respond to this information? Does it matter that Jesus was really the Creator in the flesh? How would it change things if we saw that Jesus, that man walking the dusty roads of Palestine, 2000 years ago, was actually the creator of every atom of the dust he walked on, as well as the creator of the men who eventually crucified him?

In Romans 12:1, Paul has some things to say about that question (read it): he begs us to choose wisely and to present our bodies as living sacrifices to God.  If we are created by Christ, and have become a part of the Body of Christ, doesn’t it follow that we should behave appropriately? That we should willingly present ourselves as at least the tools for his hands, the vessels for his Grace and Love? In reality, we are to be His hands and feet, serving as His representatives in this World.

2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (read it) states that we have been made ministers (servants) of Christ, and ambassadors for God, with the assigned task of reconciling to Him a lost World. How can that happen if we don’t treat him as the Savior, the Master, and the Blessed Creator?

In John 5:23 Jesus states that we are to honor the Son in the same manner as the Father—and that, if we do not, we are not honoring the Father. What would that look like, “honoring Jesus in the same way as the Father?” How do we tend to think of God the Father? Ultimate authority? Judge of all the earth? Omnipresent, omnipotent master of all the universe? Well, Jesus said (John 5:22) that the Father was NOT judging anyone, but that He had committed all judgment to the Son, so that all men would honor the Son even as they honor the Father—and that if they do not honor the Son, they do not honor the Father who sent him. Beyond that, yes, all of the above is true of the Father—and the Son. But Jesus alone is the “Judge of all the earth.” (Genesis 18:25)

I would suggest that most humans, even believers, have had a difficult time seeing Jesus as the Creator. Some flatly deny it; some hesitantly agree but are unsure how it can be so. Some agree wholeheartedly but still are unrealistic as to what it means. The fact is that we have known Jesus through the eyes of the flesh—we have seen him as a man, and we can’t shake that image. In a way, that is good: Jesus is eternally the God-man—fully God, fully Man. But we have a problem with the “God” part of the picture. I think the Lord understands that. He chided Philip (John 14:8, ff) over that very issue when Philip asked that the disciples might see the Father. He said “Philip, have you been with me so long and yet you do not know me? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father!” Somehow, I suspect even that profound statement failed to fully explain to Philip (or most anyone else) how the Son can be the Father. As I mentioned earlier, the Trinity seems to be beyond our grasp…which is as it should be. He is God…we are humans. And yet, something needs to change. Jesus calls upon us to see him through the eyes of faith.

2nd Corinthians 5:16 says, “Wherefore, henceforth, know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now, henceforth know we Him no more.”

So what has to change? 

  1. We must confess that, in the past, at least, we have primarily seen Jesus through the eyes of the world, as a mere man, possibly even mythological; or through the eyes of religion, as a demigod, a lesser deity, or a “great Spiritual being”, or a prophet, or just a great teacher, and an example to live by, but not as The Creator. We have essentially “known Christ after the flesh”. Even when we confess that he is “God in the flesh,” we haven’t really seen him that way. We still think of him in his humanity. That is natural, but it needs to change.
  • We must consider how one should behave toward the real, eternal God of the real, visible and invisible Universe. Consider the difference, if you will, between how the disciples saw Jesus when he was in the bottom of the boat, asleep, and how they saw Him, minutes later, when he had arisen to calm the storm. (Turn to Mark 4:35-41…read it.) Before they awakened Him, they were terribly afraid of the storm: they thought they were going to be drowned. Afterward, they were even more afraid of Him, when they recognized His Deity. Perhaps we could use a good dose of that Godly fear, today. Perhaps that is why Psalm 111:10 states that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.” And Psalm 19:9 says that “The Fear of the LORD is clean, enduring Forever.” No one who has truly seen the Lord in His glory has ever treated Him as a mere human afterward.
  • We must confirm His deity by our attitudes and behavior, stepping beyond the casual, familiar, back-slapping, “hail-fellow-well-met” attitude we too frequently seem to apply to Jesus Christ, and start seeing Him as God in the Flesh. Immanuel. God with us. We need to recognize His true authority and seek to obey Him in all things. He’s not our “buddy”…He is our Master.

These are the things that have to change. And, may God help us to do so quickly, as the time is growing short.

Lord Jesus, awaken in us a spirit of worship, and obedience, so that we continually treat you as the Holy God of the universe, not just a distant, powerful ally, and a friend in time of need. Allow us to redeem the time we have left, and apply it to eternity.

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Christ, the Word of God

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Christ the Word of God

© C. O. Bishop THCF 3/12/2017 Revised 2021

John 1:1-4, 14

Introduction:

Several years ago, I had begun a series in the Gospel of John. We didn’t get very far, but, as I was also teaching through the Life of Christ, in our adult Bible study at the time, the discontinuance didn’t bother me very much.

However, I think perhaps it would be good to revisit John’s Gospel and see what is there for us. In the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) the themes are different, and the Millennial Kingdom is mentioned frequently. John doesn’t spend much time on the Kingdom, nor even on the presentation of Jesus as the King, as Matthew did: John presents Jesus as God. We see the deity of Jesus more clearly there than in the other gospels.

One reason that is important to us, is that the Kingdom age (promised to the whole earth, but especially to the Jews) is not so much directed to the Church. Yes, we will be there, but every single member of the Body of Christ, the Bride, the Church, will already be in his or her new body. We will not be living as fleshly human beings anymore. We will enjoy the Kingdom from a different perspective. So, the Gospel of John is especially important for us to grasp, so that we begin to see who Jesus really is. Follow along in your Bible as we read John 1:1-4, 14.

John 1:1-4 “In the beginning was the Word, 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 any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the Life was the Light of men.”

Throughout the Old Testament, the Word of God can be seen; constantly active in the World. The Word was not only present at the creation; the Word did the creating. God spoke the world into being. Hebrews 11:3 confirms this, saying that “…by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God…” In Hebrews 1:2, we see that same Word identified as the Son of God. “…God has spoken to us by His Son…by whom also he made the worlds…”

So John was certainly not alone in labeling Jesus as the Word of God. Let’s look to the rest of the Bible, and see what John was talking about.

From the Beginning

In Genesis 1:1-3, ff, the description is very obscure—it simply states that God spoke, and the World was created. If we had no further revelation, we could not know that the Speaker was in fact God the Son. But with the additional knowledge of the New Testament, we can come back to re-examine the Old Testament, and see things not otherwise known. We can see not only that God created the World, but that he did so by the Word. We can see at the same time that the Spirit was hovering over the face of the deep…I assume that it means the whole face of the deep…so the omnipresence of God the Holy Spirit seems to be in view, as well as the absolute authority, the omnipotence of God, as one who can speak the world into existence. But in the same passage we see the Trinity, of course. Even the noun Elohim, simplytranslated “God,” is actually a plural noun, in Hebrew. (Not singular; not dual—plural. We don’t have many dual nouns, but Hebrew does, so a “plural noun” in Hebrew, means “three or more,” not “two or more” as in English.)

Whenever God has communicated with Man, at any level, the Word was involved. Sometimes obviously, as a Person, sometimes simply in the form of communication—but we see more and more clearly that the person of the Godhead who does the communication is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, in virtually every case.

The Word was given, throughout the Old Testament, in the form of:

  1. Narratives
  2. Commands
  3. Prophecies
  4. Promises
  5. Warnings
  6. Encouragements
  7. Judgment

(Remember that ALL of these are revelations from God!)

In the Psalms, God’s Word was exalted as being:

  • True
  • Eternal
  • Pure,
  • Holy,
  • Light,
  • The cleansing power of God,
  • The protection of God against sin,
  • Guidance to the traveler
  • Wisdom for living
  • The comfort of the afflicted
  • Food for the hungry
  • Medicine for the sick, etc.

In fact, in Psalm 138:2, the psalmist makes the startling statement that “…Thou hast exalted thy Word above all thy Name”!

After all that has been said about the Name of God, and how holy and exalted it is, that we are not to use it inadvisably, never to take it in vain, etc., how is it possible that God can exalt His Word above even that Name? It is because the Word is the Person of Christ. The name that we had been given for God prior to the time of Christ has been lost, effectively—no one really knows now how it is to be pronounced, whether Yahweh, Jehovah, or otherwise; the true pronunciation has been lost, at least for now. But the Name of Jesus, regardless of language or pronunciation, has been given as the ONLY name “…under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) So the Name now exalted IS that of the Word of God—Jesus, The Son, the Lamb, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

As we move forward into the Gospel of John,we see John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of Grace and Truth.

Thus, in John 1:1-4, 14, together, we see clearly, for the first time, that the Word is also a Person. Jesus is the communication of God to Man. If we look back at the forms in which the Word was given, we can see that Jesus still is all those forms.

  1. Jesus is the historian: he tells us what really happened.
  2. Jesus is the Lord—He is the commander…he gave the command (John 13:34, 35) to Love one another. He also gave the command to preach the Gospel (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15).
  3. Jesus is the prophet—he has told us what is to come (Matthew 24; Mark 13, etc.)
  4. Jesus is the fulfillment of promise, as well as the giver of promises. (John 5:24)
  5. Jesus has given warnings to those who ignore His Word and his teachings. (John 3:18; etc.)
  6. Jesus offers encouragement to those who hear and believe, and obey. (John 14:1-4, 6, 21, 23, etc.)
  7. Jesus is the revealer, in the Book of the Revelation.(Revelation 4-22)
  8. Jesus is the final Judge of the whole world. (John 5:22; Matthew 25:31, ff; compare Revelation 20:11,12)

Further, we see that Jesus is the source of God’s Grace, in John 1:17, as well as God’s Truth. In fact, if I were to go back and compare all the things that God said about His Word, in the Psalms, I would find that they are all true of Jesus Christ. He is True, and Pure, and Holy. He is the light, and the cleansing power of God (by His blood, especially) and the guidance of God, the protection and comfort of God for us, as we are pilgrims on the way, and, truly the Wisdom and Power of God, according to 1st Corinthians 1:24.

So, what is the primary message God has communicated via Jesus? Interestingly, it seems to be encapsulated by the same Writer, John, in 1st John 1:5-10; 2:1, 2; 5:11-13)

  1. God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all (1st John 1:5)
  2. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we are actually lying. (1st John 1:6)
  3. If we say we have not sinned, we are making Him a liar. (1st John 1:10)
  4. Jesus is the propitiation (The satisfaction of God’s righteousness) for our sins and for those of the whole world. (1st John 2:2)
  5. Eternal life is in the Son of God, given by the Father. (1st John 5:11)
  6. If you have the Son, you have Eternal life—if you don’t, you don’t. (1st John 5:12)
  7. God wants you to know that you have eternal life. (1st John 5:13)

What about the present, and the future?

Peter tells us 2nd Peter 1:19 that the Word is our ONLY source of light in this dark world. He says that, as we normally treat a light in a dark place (earnestly focusing our attention on what it reveals), so we should focus our attention on the written Word (the black-and-white revelation of Jesus) until the Living Word (the Daystar) arrives. We are not to turn aside to other guides, regardless of how attractive they may appear. Jesus is the Living Word, who is our light, our guide, our Savior, and our Master. We will either use his written Word as He has commanded through Peter, or we will effectively ignore His leading and His light. There is no mistake about the connection between the written Word of God and the Living Word, Jesus Christ.  The connection is solid enough that I believe I can safely say that the way you respond to the Written Word will reveal the reality of how you respond to the Living Word.

Ultimately, the whole world will see Jesus as the Word of God. The Revelation shows him returning as a conqueror, and that his name is called “The Word of God”. On His thigh another title is emblazoned: “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.” (Revelation 19:11-16)

How do you think you might respond to the sight of Jesus arriving as the conqueror, destroying his enemies, and rescuing the remnant of believers? Do you think you might feel at least a sense of awe? Or, maybe “stark terror” would be more accurate? Do you think you would have any trouble staying awake, for instance? Any trouble remembering whatever He happens to say—especially if it were said to you, personally? Bear in mind that this same Jesus that is coming with irresistible force and majesty, and destruction, as well as rescue, is the same one whose Word we have been “playing with” for the last however many years. Sleeping during Bible lessons (I have, too, don’t think I am pointing fingers…), and only vaguely able to recall what it was He said. And we don’t seem to be too terribly worried about it either. We feel a little guilty, and think, “I really ought to study the Bible, but, you know, I have a lot on my plate!” or, “I really can’t memorize things.” (If that is really true, then you need to treat the Written Word just as you do any other vital information that you have to know—read it often, and carry a copy of it with you for quick review.)

Conclusion:

If Jesus is the message—the communication of God to you—how are you responding? Have you received the message at all? If so, are you still receiving it? We receive the message of Eternal Life by hearing and believing…that is the obedience required at that point. (John 6:28, 29) But those who believe the initial message are called to continue to respond to the message. Obedience to God’s Word is how we respond to the message of God. But Jesus said that those who KEEP his Word have a special relationship with God, and blessing added to their lives. (John 14:21-24)

What can you do to change?

Set a time during which you WILL be in the Word, daily—make an appointment, and keep it—God will be there, whether you are or not. (You keep human appointments regularly—why not keep one with God?) Set the clock and get up early, so you can read while it is still quiet. Begin with prayer…Confession is a good prayer to begin with, then cast yourself on God’s mercy, and look to Him to teach you as you read.

Take notes as you read. Choose a key verse to memorize, and write it out. Take it with you and review it often. Read for the purpose of seeing Jesus face to face. Search the scriptures for direction for your life. Look for tools to make it easier to explain the Gospel to others…scriptures that speak clearly to you, in your circumstances.

Psalm 119:9 asks, “How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy Word.” God’s Word is the ONLY thing he promises can change your life. The psalmist goes on to say, “Thy Word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee.” That could easily refer to memorization, but even memorization can potentially be just rote memory, with zero application. Meditation on the Word, and deliberately applying it your life is a necessary part of “hiding the Word in your heart”. Memorization is important too, but application is what changes lives.

In the end, what you do with the Word will be one of two things—you will either obey, or disobey. Consider who it is you are actually dealing with, and reconsider how you feel about obedience. Are your sins paid for? Yes. Are you free from condemnation? Yes. But how you affect those around you, and how you will feel when you see Jesus are both completely dependent upon your obedient response to His Word. Bear in mind that He is the Word, and the eternal Judge.

Make a commitment to change how you respond to the Living Word, and receive His eternal reward as a result. God’s blessing upon you as you seek to follow His Word, the Living Word of God—Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus, open our eyes to see You, the Living Word, as we study the Bible, the Written Word. Help us to truly see it as or only source of light, and our only guide by which to travel. Give us a growing hunger for your Word and use it to transform our lives.

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Hyssop, Blood and Water

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Hyssop, Blood and Water
© C. O. Bishop 2013 THCF 3/17/2013 revised 5/29/2021

Exodus 12:22; Leviticus 14:1-7; Psalm 119:9; John 15:3; Ephesians 5:26

Introduction:

Recently, I was reading Psalm 51, the prayer of David for forgiveness and cleansing after his sin with Bathsheba, and I was drawn to the passage (v.7) “Purge me with Hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.”

What a curious thing to say! In our culture, Hyssop is unheard of, let alone being associated with cleansing of any sort. But from the time of the Exodus to the time of Christ, the woody shrub called “Ezov” in Hebrew, commonly translated “Hyssop,” was used in the blood sacrifices for sin, as well as the ritual cleansing of those whom God had healed of leprosy, and other such things.

Hyssop and Blood: Salvation

When God ordained the Passover (Exodus 12:22), he did not just say, take some of the blood of this lamb, and smear it on the door-frame: he specifically said “ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it into the blood in the basin, and strike the lintel, and the two doorposts with the Blood.”

The result was to be that the family thus protected was shielded from the wrath to come.

Hyssop, Blood and Water: Cleansing

Later, in Leviticus 14:1-7 (read it), hyssop was used again, in the ceremonial cleansing of a leper whom God had healed. Interestingly, in that passage, there was not only blood but water mentioned. There were two birds needed for this ceremony—one to die, and one to live. One shed its blood; the other was covered with the blood but was released to fly free. It took two birds to demonstrate the reality of Christ who bore our iniquities, and by whose stripes we have been healed of our dreadful disease…called Sin. The live bird, coated in the blood of the sacrificed bird represents the new life we have in Christ. We live under His blood.

Have you thought about the fact that leprosy was used in the Old Testament as a picture of sin? It was incurable, except by God, and it was contagious, unlike some other diseases. When God healed a leper, that person was to present himself to the priest, who would examine him and declare him clean (if indeed he was), and a sacrifice would be brought. The one bird was to be killed over running water, in an earthen vessel. Then the live bird was to be dipped in the blood of the dead bird –along with some cedar wood, scarlet (cloth?) and hyssop. Then the blood was sprinkled seven times on the person cleansed of leprosy and the priest was to pronounce him clean. The living bird was to be released to fly free.

Some other things to note—the leper did nothing to “get clean”—God did the healing. The leper only brought the required offering so that the priest could make the public declaration that the man was clean. Further, the priest came out (Completely outside the camp) to see the leper—the leper did not approach the priest inside the camp. We did not come to God for cleansing. He came to us in the person of Christ, to bring about our salvation, our healing, and our cleansing.

I can easily connect the sprinkling of blood to the blood sacrifice brought by Christ; and the living bird to the resurrection of Christ and that of the believer. But what about the Hyssop, the Cedar wood, the scarlet and the running water? I don’t know… maybe the hyssop was to remind them of the connection of the blood sacrifice to the Passover. The Passover is certainly a picture of Christ; and all the other blood sacrifices of the Old Testament, in one way or another, look forward to the Cross, as well. Perhaps the earthen vessel, for instance, speaks of the humanity of Christ as well as our own limitations as humans. What about the water? Possibly it is in reference to the Holy Spirit, as Jesus referred on more than one occasion to the well of “water” that, springing up within the believer, would result in eternal life. And in those passages, he definitely was referring to the Holy Spirit, as the scripture plainly states this to be the case. But it seems to me it could be something else, as well. Here in Leviticus it could be in reference to God’s Word. Why? Because he does this in reference to cleansing. It is not just a ceremony—it is pointing out a spiritual truth.

The Water of the Word

“How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to…”— what? The Holy Spirit? Well, the Spirit is obviously the author of cleansing, it’s true, but in this specific passage (Psalm 119:9) it says that by taking heed to one’s life according to God’s Word, the believer can be cleansed. No one is saved, apart from the ministration of God’s Word—we are saved by Grace through faith. (Ephesians 2:8, 9) Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17) Jesus told his Disciples (the eleven who remained after Judas’ desertion) that they were clean—how? Through the Word which he had spoken unto them (John 15:3). His blood had yet to be shed: though they did not know it, when they placed their faith in the temple sacrifices, they still were looking forward to the Cross. But they had believed His Word, and had been cleansed before God.

Did you know that this particular prescription for cleansing (God’s Word) is the only way God says he can change your life? Of, course, if you haven’t placed your faith in His blood at the Cross, then even his Word can’t change you—you haven’t been saved; you haven’t been born again! The disciples had placed their faith in the blood of God’s chosen sacrifice, years before, and specifically, had believed His words, when they met Jesus face to face. But Jesus told Peter, who was already a believer, that if He, the living Word, was not allowed to “wash” Peter, then the two of them could have no fellowship at all. (John 13:8) He further reiterated that Peter and the rest (excluding Judas Iscariot) were already clean. (John 13:10) The foot-washing was not a representation of salvation, but of restored fellowship.

So there are two things at work, here—the hyssop, as it were—representing the application of the blood, by which we are purged from sin; and the washing—the cleansing by the Word. “Purge me with Hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” In David’s day, the Holy Spirit had not been given (God says so, John 7:37-39). He knew of the Holy Spirit, and had tasted of His ministry in his own life (“…take not thy Holy Spirit from me…”), but the Spirit was not yet given in the personal presence of an eternal indwelling.

The same Psalmist who said “wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” also said “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy Word.” The connection is there for us to see.

Saved and cleansed for the purpose of Service

So…does the blood of Jesus continue to cleanse me, or is it strictly God’s Word, now? John says, (1st John 1:7) that “if we walk in the light as He is in the light (in obedience to God’s Word), we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanses us from all sin.” Yes! The blood shall forever continue to be the thing that makes us stand clean before God. So what does the “washing of water by the Word” accomplish? It brings about the practical cleansing of the believer’s life.

Jesus is in the process of cleansing the Bride of Christ, the Church, by the “washing of water, by the Word”, according to Ephesians 5:26. That is not how he saved us, but how he is cleansing us. And to what purpose does he cleanse us? Several things come to mind:

  1. Hebrews 10:19-22 says that we are to draw near to God, by the blood of Jesus, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Do you think that “pure water” means plain old H2O? I really doubt it.
  2. Revelation 5:10 We are to be functioning as priests before God: We draw near to God with the sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving (Hebrews 13:15) Old Testament priests were cleansed first by the blood, and also the water of separation (Num. 19:1-19, v. 9).
  3. 2nd Corinthians 5:20 We are called to be ambassadors of God. We draw near to God with the sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving and we draw near to Men with the bread of Life, the Gospel; seeking to reconcile men to God. That takes a clean life.
  4. Ephesians 2:10 (We are created unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.) We are to serve as those who have been redeemed; bought back out of the Marketplace of Sin, never to be sold again, set free, as was the bird of Leviticus; serving by a free will, clean and whole again. (How are we bought? We are bought by the Blood of Christ. How are we cleansed? We are cleansed by the Washing of Water, by the Word.)

Conclusion:

So, then, the primary need of the unbeliever is to be saved—to have the blood of the sacrifice applied to the lintel and doorposts of his own heart. Only the individual can apply that blood by faith. Only that individual can make that choice. The lamb has been slain, and there is no question that it was the Lamb of God—there is abundant eyewitness testimony to that effect, as well as the living witness of the believers today. But only the individual sinner can choose to receive that gift of eternal life—or choose not to do so.

The continuing need of the believer is to daily be cleansed by God’s Word, through reading, listening, studying, memorizing, reciting, and meditating upon it day and night. He is already positionally clean…eternal life is his. But the fellowship of God is for those who are in full agreement with Him. And God’s Word is what can “rein in” our old nature and strengthen our new nature.

Perhaps it would be good to think back to the passage in Leviticus 14. The sacrificed bird was to be killed in an earthenware vessel, over running water. Consider this: is the Bible-study by which I was nourished, over 40 years ago, sufficient to cleanse me today, and to strengthen my new life in Christ today, and to protect me from the snares of the Wicked one today?

NO! The Water needs to be Living water—running water—constantly being renewed, for cleansing, healing, nourishment, and refreshment. I cannot feed on the bread of last year, nor can I be cleansed by water that was fresh and flowing many years ago. I need the water of the Word flowing in my life today. The Holy Spirit has never ceased to work in my life, but there have been times during which I have neglected the Word, and, as a result, to one degree or another, I have dried up. God’s supply of Living Water is eternally the Holy Spirit, but He administers that supply through the Living Word.

Notice that when Jesus talked with Nicodemus he said that a person must be born of water and of the Spirit. Many have conjectured that the “water” in this passage (John 3) was the amniotic fluid of natural childbirth. If that were true then the statement would be pointless, since every person has experienced that natural, fleshly birth. The New birth is not only by the Spirit, but by the Word of God. (Remember, Jesus said, “Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you…”) No one has ever been saved apart from the ministry of the Word, and that of the Spirit. No one has ever been cleansed except by the same means.

When Jesus had already died, on the Cross, and the soldier stabbed Him through his heart with a spear, to make certain He was dead, it specifically states that Blood and Water immediately came forth. (John 19:34-37) So, the means for cleansing was fully supplied by the Cross. The blood for salvation and the water for cleansing were both found in the person of Christ.

Remember the words to the Hymn, “Rock of Ages:”

“Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee!
Let the Water and the Blood, from thy wounded side which flowed,
be of Sin the double cure! Save from Wrath, and make me Pure!”

That hymn-writer obviously knew the truth we have spoken today: The sinner requires the blood of the sacrifice to be saved. He applies that blood by faith, confessing his need for a Savior. The saint requires the water of the Word to be clean. He applies the Word of God by faith, confessing his sins and his need for cleansing. “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1st John 1:9) We need both the blood and the water—and we find both in the person of Christ, the Chosen Lamb of God, and the Living Word of God. All thanks be to Him.  

Amen.

Lord Jesus, focus the eyes of our hearts upon yourself, so that we see our need for cleansing and nourishment, so that we may feed freely on the Living Bread, and drink deep of the Living Water. Use our lives as tools in your hands, and build Your Church according to Your will.

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Our Focus for the Future

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Our Focus for the Future

© 2021 C. O. Bishop

2nd Peter 3:10-18

Introduction:

Last week we addressed the idea of “Refocusing for the Future:” turning our eyes away from the turmoil and destruction of this world and focusing on the Word of God and the task we have been given, so that God can lift us above the trials, allowing us to serve Him undisturbed.

We touched last week on what the end times will include, and we encouraged everyone to read the book of Habakkuk and try to emulate Habakkuk’s response to the destruction of his culture and his nation. Some of you followed through and have read that book, and saw both the coming judgment and the God who lifts us above that judgment.

We saw that the bad news is simply that judgment is coming. But the good news is that Jesus saves! That is a simple enough message that anyone can preach it and anyone can understand it, and yet it is of sufficient depth and complexity to keep the most astute student of God’s Word busy digging, and thrilled with what he finds, for the rest of his life.

Virtually all “good news” in life is predicated on some pre-existing “bad news.” Last week we rejoiced to know that “Lisa,” the woman of whom it was said, it would take a miracle to save her life, who had been placed in a medically-induced coma and who was on a ventilator, was now off the ventilator and doing better. That was good news because it was a reversal of the bad news!

The good news, years ago, that Australia had perfected an antivenin which was effective for the bites of 85 different kinds of venomous snakes was predicated upon the bad news that Australia has 140 different kinds of venomous snakes!

The bad news in our lives originated in the Garden of Eden, thousands of years ago. We were all plunged into sin and destruction by the one bad decision of our progenitor, Adam. We all suffered the “snake-bite” of Satan there in the Garden. Jesus said in John 8:44 that Satan “was a murderer from the beginning.” Who did he kill? Us! So, as we were all “bitten” by that same venomous enemy, before the human race had begun to produce, and all have passed on that venom to our progeny, we need to look to the only “Antivenin”—the only cure for that poison in our systems. God’s only cure for the fatal disease called sin is the Blood of Jesus, shed at the Cross! Jesus is “Plan A” and there is no “Plan B!” And each sinner needs to receive it personally.

So, today we are going to continue by reiterating the “bad news” of the coming Judgment for sin, and then focusing on the Good News of the second coming of Christ and what we are supposed to be doing in the meantime.

Bad News

Beginning the Day of the Lord

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night;

1st Thessalonians 4:13-18 describes the Rapture in clear terms, and is immediately succeeded by 1st Thessalonians 5:1, 2, which reiterates that the Day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night. And immediately thereafter, it begins describing the tribulation period, which, though it arrived without announcement, just as a thief, it is quite unlike a sneak thief in every other way. The whole point of being a “sneak thief” or a “cat-burglar” is to not be detected, except when the owners of the place wake up and find that something valuable is missing.

The Rapture is the portion of the “Day of the Lord” which “comes as a thief in the night,” and the World will indeed “wake up” to find that the Christians (the real ones) have all gone missing! But that may not bother them, depending on how they felt about Christians. It will certainly be a shock, but it may be frightening to some and elating to others.

The next verse, 1st Thessalonians 5:3, says that “when they shall say ‘peace and safety,’ then shall sudden destruction come upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape.” When labor pains begin, childbirth is still ahead: so, what is being described here is the beginning of the tribulation. And it says everyone will be saying, “peace and safety.” There is a peace-treaty mentioned in Daniel 9:27, wherein the antichrist will make such a treaty and break it.. Matthew 24:15 confirms the idea, and finally, 2nd Thessalonians 2:3, 4 makes the Daniel prophecy clear: the antichrist will make a treaty with Israel which is to be a seven-year peace-treaty, during the first half of which, the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem: but he will break the treaty at the 3-1/2 year mark, and seat himself in the temple to be worshipped as God. For the last half century, the whole world has been yearning for a working peace-treaty in the Middle-East. It will come! They will rejoice! But it will only last 3-1/2 years, and culminate in the most terrible, worldwide destruction this world has ever seen.

Jesus described that tribulation in Matthew 24 and Mark 13…and in Matthew 25:31-46, He describes the second coming. He describes the judgment of the living nations saying that those who were saved will proceed into the Kingdom, (not Heaven! Heaven is still future.) (He discusses their works, but, as the rest of scripture assures us, their works showed their faith.) He declares that the unrighteous unbelievers will proceed (eventually) into everlasting fire.

But that Kingdom age is described in much detail: 1000 years long according to Revelation 20, and filled with Peace and righteousness, and the knowledge of the Lord, according to the Old Testament prophets. But it ends in violence, as did all the other ages, and this time, it is the end!

in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Revelation 20:11 describes the Great White Throne judgment: it says that all heaven and earth flee from the face of Him who sat upon the throne, and “There was found no place for them.” Why?  Evidently this is where the “Fervent heat and great noise” come into play, because in Revelation 21:1 says there was a New Heaven and New Earth “because the first earth was passed away.” And, between the passing of the first earth and the creation of the New Earth, was the judgment of the unrighteous dead of all time. They all had been cast into the lake of fire.

The End of the Day of the Lord

That is some pretty bad news we just read, except for the Good News that there is a New Heaven and a New Earth coming, and that we will be with Jesus while He judges the world, and that we are never to be condemned again. This is why John 5:24 is so precious, along with Romans 8:1. Jesus declared in John 5:24 that those who have placed their faith in Him will never be condemned by God, while Romans 8:1 reiterates that “There is now therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.”

The condemnation of the unrighteous world will “pass over” the believers, who have trusted in the Blood of the Lamb of God. Does that sound familiar? I surely hope it does! The Passover was a picture, a prefiguring of this very promise: that the wrath of God will pass over the people of God, because He sees the blood of the covenant…Jesus’s Blood at the Cross…and offers no further judgment. As Jesus proclaimed from the Cross, “It is finished!”

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

As we then consider the coming Judgment, the ultimate Bad News which will take the World by surprise, and finally end the Day of the Lord with the promised destruction and Judgment, we need to take seriously the last request of the Lord, that we are to reach the World with the Gospel; because it is His deep desire that people be saved. And the only “Ambassadors of His Grace” that He has appointed are His saints…the believers. You and me!

Consider a firefighting crew.

Several of the members of that crew may be fully trained medics. Several will have Commercial Driving Licenses (CDL) and whatever special training is needed to drive a fire truck. A couple of them may be trained mechanics, to keep the trucks in top shape. Some will be skilled managers, etc. But every single one of them is a firefighter! Their job is to fight fires. Their particular “assignment” or “task” within the firehouse may include anything from doing Public Relations work, to performing fire inspections, or just cleaning and inspecting their own fire-fighting apparatus. But their collective job is to fight fires!

You may have the task of teaching a Sunday school class, or doing bookwork, or helping with food distribution, or repairing a church building, or mentoring younger believers…but your Job is to Preach the Gospel. You are a chosen ambassador of Christ! Take that seriously! Don’t lose sight of who and what you are in Christ!

Finally: How should We respond?

13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

We are told that, since the coming Judgment is a sure thing, and that there will be millions of people lost, for lack of the Gospel, that we need to be doing what He said to do! That includes a holy lifestyle, and the constant walk with God. But it also includes being an Ambassador.

15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

It is interesting to me that as Peter is telling us to get on with the job counting the longsuffering of God to be an open door for salvation to those willing to trust Him, that he also cites the Apostle Paul, who preached that very thing. In 1st Corinthians 15:34, Paul said “Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” The point? Evangelism is our job. If it isn’t happening, at least at some level, we should be ashamed of our nonfeasance of duty.

17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

Peter warns us that we can be distracted and fall away into non-function, and unfruitful behavior.  What could be the contrast? (How should we act in order to not be led astray?)

18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The next verse answers that question: “Grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” And we know how to do that: 1st Peter 2:2 says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby!”

To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

And the result will be “Glory to God in the Church by Christ Jesus…”, forever! Here again, Peter agrees with Paul. (Ephesians 3:21 “21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”)

Lord Jesus, we ask your forgiveness for failing to do the job you have called us to do, and we ask that you renew a right spirit within us, giving us a passion for the lost. Let us see the World as you see it, and offer the Love of God, as you have called us to so.

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Refocusing for the Last Days

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Refocusing for the Last Days

© 2021 C. O. Bishop

2nd Peter 3:1-9

Introduction:

It is interesting to me that Peter is reminding us ofwhy he is writing: to “stir up” our new nature, through a reminder to focus on the Word of God. That is interesting to me, specifically, because that is my goal here at True Hope Christian Fellowship as well: to stir up the new nature of those who have already been born again, so that they desire the sincere milk of the Word, as Peter said in his first epistle. This is how the saints of God (defined by God as those who have entered into a covenant with Him by sacrifice…specifically, through faith in Jesus’s blood at the Cross) …this is how the saints of God grow into the servants and soldiers of God, and are manifested as the Sons of God. (Romans 8:14 says “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God.”)

The Goal of the Twin Epistles of Peter

So that is our goal: we want to give the Holy Spirit “free rein” in our lives by being obedient to His Word, since that is specifically how God has chosen to lead His people: through His Word.

1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: 2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

Peter reminds us that both epistles had the same goal: to “stir up our pure minds.” (What “pure minds?”) The only “pure minds” we have are our new natures, created by God in righteousness and true holiness, according to Ephesians 4:24. Paul had pointed out that “no good thing dwells in” our old nature. (Romans 7:18) In fact, by the end of Romans chapter seven, Paul concluded that the old nature is no longer us. God no longer sees your old nature as “you” at all. This is a hard concept to grasp, because the old nature still feels like “me.” But God says (Romans 6) that He has separated me from my old nature to the degree that He considers me dead to sin and, more than that, a “new Creation.” (2nd Corinthians 5:17) It is hard for me to grasp that I am a new creature. I don’t feel new! But I can tell something is new, in that I do desire to walk with God…where before, I had no such desire. So I know I have a new nature: I just need to learn to see my new nature as the “real me,” just as Paul did, in Romans 7:17. Just as Paul struggled with his old sin nature, which he called “the flesh,” we also struggle. But we can learn from his experience, accept by faith the fact of the new birth and the resulting new nature, and begin learning to feed that new nature and watch it grow strong and stable.

So the “pure mind” Peter refers to is our new nature, which, as we know, must be fed, strengthened and exercised.  But how is it to be fed, strengthened, exercised and “stirred up?”

He says that we are to “be mindful of” (to keep in mind…to remember…to focus on) the words of the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament Apostles. (In short, “read your Bible and apply it to your life!”) Why does he consider this to be such an important message?

The Last Days are Coming.

Peter has already told us that we are to grow through the Word. He has already told us that we are to become partakers of the nature of God through the Word. He goes on to say what the end times will hold and what our response should be:

3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

Scoffers have been around since the beginning: there is nothing new about that. But the trend is growing stronger, wherein the scoffers are very vocal and very public: They loudly proclaim Jesus to have been a myth or a self-deluded fool, and that anyone who believes in Him is mentally deficient at best, and probably socially unacceptable at every level.

When the believers confidently assert that Jesus will return, they are elated, because they consider 2000 years plenty of time to “prove” that He will not return. So they loudly condemn all those who trust in His Word. They say nothing has changed in all these years, so it isn’t going to change. They make assumptions about the world and base their decisions on those assumptions. They deny the creation even happened; or they claim that the impersonal “Universe” is responsible for all things and that it has a “will” and makes choices for their lives. All of this is what we have called “pantheism” for centuries, and we have seen the wretched results of it in the nations which continued to embrace it. Life has been very cheap in those nations, and persons are not seen to have intrinsic value as individuals.

And Peter says that the day is coming when those sorts of beliefs and values will be all over the world, and that, collectively, the world will insist that it is folly to believe the Bible. They will also violently oppose those who teach it. So we have to be aware of these things in advance.

5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

He reminds us of the Creation:

He reminds us that God spoke the World into existence! He reminds us that it was initially completely covered with water, but that God had caused the dry land to emerge from beneath the water, to stand out of the water, but surrounded by water. When we read the entire Genesis account, we see a number of things that God confirmed in His Word, and that people witnessed on earth, but which geologists claim happened hundreds of millions of years ago, and which, in any case, they only in the last century admitted happened at all! One of those is that the land once existed as a single “supercontinent” and was broken up into the tectonic plates we now see slowly drifting on the surface of the globe. Another is that the breakup actually happened within human memory! (Genesis 10:25)

But then he takes a step forward in history to the time of the flood, pointing out that God chose to use that same water that was present at the creation, to judge the earth.

And the Flood:

 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

We know the story of that destruction, from Genesis chapters 6-9; and we can see the truth of it written in the layers of sedimentary stone all over the world. The highest peaks frequently have seashells in the strata, even on the highest peaks, showing that they were once under water. And this is repeated all over the world. Science refuses to consider the flood as a possible explanation for the phenomenon, though the evidence continues to build.

How do we “Tell time?”

The “geologic clock” can be read from the point of view of a worldwide flood, which telescoped the history of the world down to less than ten thousand years, or it can be read from the point of view that everything took millions of years to form, making the world billions of years old.

I recall, as a child, being told that the limestone caves with their hanging stalactites and great stalagmites below then took millions of years to build. Yet the concrete sidewalks through those caves, where visitors see the amazing limestone structures, and hear that solemn lecture, have stalagmites growing on the concrete, and stalactites growing from the railings. (Must be old sidewalks!)

And when the geologists first visited the Toutle River canyon, near Mt. St. Helen, immediately after the waters broke through the volcanic ash dam, they all exclaimed that, “If we hadn’t known that this happened last week, we would have sworn it took millions of years to carve away these layers of rock!” (Reaaalllly! So, what happens if you take that idea a step further, and consider the ramifications for the rest of your world view?)

One recent find, in Cornwall, England delighted me: workers in a quarry discovered the intact fossil skeleton of a whale. So they stopped work and called in the paleontologists to dig up the fossil. The problem was that the whale was fossilized upright, standing on its tail! And, no, the strata had not been tilted after the whale was buried in silt: the stratified layers of sediment were horizontal, and the whale had literally been buried “upright.” So…what are our three options?

  1. The whale died, and sank (but, you see, dead whales float, as a rule) and it slipped into an underwater chasm which subsequently filled with sediment, and then fossilized, leaving the fossil as they found it. The problem with that idea is that the layers of sediment were not broken by a different sediment as if a chasm had been filled…all the layers fully engaged with (and permeated) the fossilized whale!
  2. The whale died in a cataclysmic flood and was caught up in the roiled waves of settling silt from the flood (which naturally settle in layers by relative density and particle size,) so that it was literally buried upright, with the silt entombing it as the heavy mud rapidly filled and solidified to make the stratified layers which are visible in the rock today. (The problem with that idea is that if we believe the flood really happened, it gives credence to the rest of the Bible! And the world can’t allow people to believe that kind of stuff!)
  3. The whale stood on its tail and waited for millions of years while it was buried in all those layers of silt. (That must have been one very patient whale!)

So, the “Geologic Clock” poses some problems for the unbelieving world: to them, it clearly says that the Biblical account of the Creation is false, which adds to their confidence as they rail against God. But the fact is, they are “reading the clock” incorrectly.

What should we expect for the future?

Peter points out that the world we see today is also headed for destruction, but not by flood.

 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Consider the horror of a prairie fire or a forest fire, or even a house-fire: This goes far beyond anything we can imagine. Colossians 1:17 says that Jesus is the one “holding all the physical world together.” (The phrase in KJV “…in Him all things consist” is usually translated, “in Him all things hold together.”) Jumping ahead to 2nd Peter 3:10, we see that the heavens and the earth will melt and pass away with a fervent heat and a great noise. If I understand Colossians 1:17 correctly, it sounds as though Jesus is simply going to “let go,” and the entire physical world will disintegrate at an atomic level, like a sun going nova! (Yep! I would call that a “fervent heat and a great noise!”) It will be impossible to escape and will spell the absolute end of the world we call home. Peter says that the same authority that created the World is going to destroy it.

When should we expect it to happen?

Looking at Revelation 20, I can see that this World will end immediately after the Millennial Kingdom age ends, and immediately before the Great White Throne Judgment.

And there is one more thing to point out in that verse: The first is obvious, that the world will be destroyed by fire. The second should be obvious, but we tend to brush over it: The coming judgment is specifically the judgment and perdition (eternal loss) of ungodly people. In that particular judgment, God’s saints will be untouched! (Remember, this means those who have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice: they have trusted in Jesus’s blood at the Cross as their blood sacrifice for sin…these are they whom God calls His saints.)

In many of the world’s judgments, wars, etc., the godly were hurt along with the ungodly. But this one is different: This judgment is only for those who have rejected God’s Grace, and have spurned His sacrifice. These are they whom God calls the “ungodly.”

The specific judgment involved, of course, is described in Revelation 20:7-15. Please remember that the Judge sitting on that Great White Throne is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We tend to think of it as being God the Father, but according to John 5:22, it is not…Jesus said that He is the only Judge: the Father judges no one.

8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

All we can say for sure is that God is never late: He is not failing to keep His Word. He is holding back that final judgment, offering time for people to change their minds. It is easy for Him to call an event in History the “day of the Lord” when, to us it seems to be over 1000 years!

The Day of the Lord, in fact, begins with the Rapture of the Church, which is the portion said to be “as a thief in the night,” but it immediately transitions into the Tribulation, which according to Daniel 9:23-27, is specifically aimed at a final purge of both the unbelieving World and Israel. Even during that tribulation, God will provide thousands of witnesses, offering salvation to anyone willing to receive it..

That seven-year period of terrible disasters on earth is cut short by the sudden appearing of the Triumphant Christ, not coming as savior, but as King. The living nations will be judged by Jesus in person, as recorded in Matthew 25:31 and following. Some will be admitted into the 1000-year kingdom on earth. Others will be sent to Hades to wait out the Kingdom age there.

But when the Kingdom age ends there will be one final rebellion, summarily stopped by God the Father, and then we will see the fulfillment of verse 7. And that final judgment, described in Revelation 20:7-15, includes the fact that Hades proper, along with all the unrighteous dead of history will be cast into the Lake of Fire. That is the end of the day of the Lord… and that is final!

So: How should we respond?

We tend to want to just “hunker down and wait it out.” But that is not what we are called to do. We, who by God’s Grace and faithfulness are guaranteed to spend eternity with Him should be driven by the priorities which drive Him. What are God’s priorities?

Well, He just said that He is “…longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Who is He patient with? The World? No…with us! He wants people saved! He desires that all would come to repentance, and even though He knows that will not happen, he wants us to act as His ambassadors, offering that eternal life to all.

There are people in each of our lives for whom we may be their only light in this dark world: How are you shining that light? Are you deliberately angling the light so that they can see their way to Jesus? Or is it just random flashes from an otherwise unstable walk with God?

If you were a pilot on a dark night, and, as you approached an airfield, you were told that the runway-lights below were actually flashlights taped to the backs of box tortoises, and that they were free to wander anywhere on the airfield, how comfortable would you feel? You would hope you could head for some other airfield, wouldn’t you? We do not want to be “wandering lights.” We need to provide stable, steady light, to show the Savior to the dying World.

We need to take this seriously, and realize just how important our testimony may be to the people with whom we live and work. You may be their last chance to choose life! Don’t turn off the lights! Walk by faith and hold forth the Word of truth.

Lord Jesus, fix our fading vision on Your face, and teach us to reflect the light of your Love and truth in the deepening darkness of our World. Raise us up as your Saints and allow us to serve you faithfully.,

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False Teachers

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What does God say about False Teachers?

© 2021 C. O. Bishop

2nd Peter 2:3-22

Introduction:

We left off, last week, with God’s warning about false teachers, and we discussed briefly what is and is not a false teacher. There are several questions to be addressed in this chapter: God points out a key idea; that the false teachers are “denying the Lord that bought them.” (v. 1) But that raises a question in many people’s minds, thinking, “they must be believers, otherwise how could it say he ‘bought’ them?” That sounds like a reasonable question, so, let’s answer that first:

Who did Jesus purchase with His Blood?

How many sins did Jesus die for at the Cross? 1st John 2:2 states that Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world. It is not just “hinted at,” or “indicated;” this is not a “matter of interpretation:” God flatly says, he died “…not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (There is nothing “ambiguous” about it!) Jesus said the reason he came was that the World might be saved through Him. He also said that those who believe in Him “have eternal life,” and “are not condemned.” They who do not believe are “already condemned” and “shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on them.” (John 5:24, John 3:17, 18, and 36)

So, a false teacher is not a “believer” because the Lord “bought them:” they are human sinners, (just like us) because the Lord bought them. (He did not die for the sins of the angels who rebelled.) And, by the end of this chapter, we will see that the false teachers definitely are not believers. God draws sharp distinction between sinners who are believers and sinners who are not believers. But the next verse raises another question:

What about Hell?

4 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;

Here is another confusing passage. The word translated “hell,” here, is not the common Greek word “hades” meaning “the place of the dead:” it is the word “Tartarus”, meaning the abyss, or the “bottomless pit.” In fact, the word Tartarus is only used this one time in scripture, and the Greek word “abussos” (describing the same place) is only used nine times, and in all but one, the meaning is clearly not the place of the dead, but the “abyss;” the “bottomless pit” which is evidently reserved for angelic prisoners, not humans. (see Luke 8:31; Revelation 9:1, 2, 11; also Revelation 11:7; 17:8, and 20:1, 3)

People have somehow gotten the idea that Satan “rules in Hell.” That is simply not so. Right now, he is tromping around, right here on earth! (Job 1:7) Hell (hades, or, in the Old Testament, sheol) always simply refers to the “place of the dead.” Sheol/hades was divided into two compartments…the place of the righteous dead, and the place of the unrighteous dead. But the place for angelic prisoners is a completely different location, called the abyss.

People have also somehow gotten the idea that Jesus “went to hell for our sins.” This also is not true! When Jesus made His final declaration of victory, from the Cross, the word He cried out, in Greek, was “Tetelestai!” It meant “Paid in full” It is translated “It is finished,” but that can have a variety of English connotations. I like the way it reads in the Spanish Bible: “Consumado es!” (“It is consummated! It is completed! The work I was sent to do is utterly finished!”) There was nothing left to pay for!

He had told the Jews that He would be spending three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And he told the thief on the Cross: “Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise!” (Not hell!) There were two “holding places” for the dead: the righteous dead waited in a place sometimes called “Abraham’s bosom,” as in Luke 16:19-31, or Paradise. In either case, it was the place of the righteous dead: the “waiting-room” for those who would eventually be admitted into Heaven, as a group. (When?) After the resurrection of Christ, at His ascension.

(Why the delay?) Until Jesus died, the way into God’s presence was closed, as pictured by the thick, floor-to-ceiling veil in the temple. When He died, that veil was torn from top to bottom, showing that the way was now open. When Jesus ascended, Paradise was literally transferred into Heaven. This explains why, years later, Paul described being caught up to “the third heaven” (remember, sky, outer space and God’s abode are all called by the same word in both Greek and Hebrew)  He said he was caught up to Paradise: up, into God’s presence, not down, into the heart of the earth, where Jesus said He was going to be for three days and three nights.

So, these angels who were cast into the abyss were not in the same place where the unrighteous human dead are still awaiting the final judgment, in Revelation 20:11-15. This is also how we know that “hell,” translated from the Greek word hades, is not the “final” judgment: Revelation 20:14 says that death and hell are to be cast into the Lake of Fire. That is final! Hades is only the “waiting room” for the Lake of Fire, where the whole mass of humanity who rejected the Lord during their lifetimes will be cast, all at one time.

Saved Sinners

Who does God save, then? God saves believing sinners.

 5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Noah was a saved sinner: how do I know? Because Genesis 6:8 says “Noah found Grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Grace means “unmerited favor: un-earned favor.” Only sinners need Grace! Noah was saved by Grace through faith, just the same as you and I are. But those around him, whether good or bad (from human perspective,) gentle or violent, young or old, educated or ignorant, sick or healthy, weak or strong, were all unbelieving sinners. God categorized them with one phrase: “the ungodly.” And, because they did not believe the warning, when the flood came, they were all destroyed.

6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

Lot was a saved sinner! How do I know? Because God calls him “just:” righteous! I would never have considered Lot a righteous man from the Genesis account. He seemed to just be a sinner, all the way around. But evidently he believed in the God who blessed Abraham, because God calls him a righteous man. I had no doubt that the Sodomites were wicked: they proved it. But I had just assumed that God rescued Lot for Abraham’s sake. I didn’t see Lot as a righteous man: but God says that he was! And the only way to be called “righteous” by God is by faith.

What is a Saint?

How does God define His saints? The word “saint” means “holy one;” those whom God has set aside for His service. But where is the dividing line? Turn to Psalm 50:5 “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” Those who had “made a covenant with him by sacrifice” are those He calls his “saints.”  He has set them apart for His purpose, His exclusive use, and as His exclusive property!

The next question has to be: “What Sacrifice?” There were hundreds of them! In the Old Testament, many people brought sacrifices, but not all of them were making a covenant with God. Some were just “going through the motions.” They brought the “correct” sacrifice, because they were required to do so, but they had no heart for God. He was not deceived by their outward behavior: He saw their hearts, and He openly rejected such sacrifices. (Isaiah 1:11-13)

In Romans 3:25, we see that God has set forth Jesus to be a propitiation (a satisfying sacrifice) through faith in His Blood!” So, today, those who have “made a covenant with God by sacrifice” are those who have placed their faith in Jesus’s blood at the Cross as full payment for their sins. And God says, that makes them His saints: His property; his children, and His ambassadors. If you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, then all of that is eternally true of you!

That is the same basis upon which Noah, and Abraham, (yes, and Lot) were declared to be righteous. “Abraham believed God, and God declared him to be righteous on the basis of his faith.” (Genesis 15:6 and Romans 4:3)

Saints often Suffer

9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Remember: in Job’s life, he had done no evil (God says so!) but much evil befell him. In his case, it was so that we could learn the righteousness and authority of God, and learn from the faith and endurance of Job. But, Naboth was faithful, too, and refused to sell the inheritance of his ancestors. Queen Jezebel had him framed for blasphemy, and stoned to death, so she could illegally take the land for King Ahab! Yes, God is faithful, but remember that He is also God: He allows his saints to suffer, for His glory and their eventual reward. Job was blessed and rewarded in his lifetime. Naboth’s reward will obviously have to be in eternity…but Ahab and Jezebel both died very ugly deaths for their wickedness…and eternal judgment still awaits them! And our reward is also not necessarily in this life!

What about those false teachers, then?

The rest of this chapter describes only the false teachers. I have underscored the pronouns in the passage. They are all third-person plural. The only exceptions are the pronouns regarding those with whom they interact. When they deceive believers, the believers are addressed as “you.”

10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.

They speak bold, defiant words against all authority, slandering those in authority, when even angelic beings speak more circumspectly, not making wild accusations. And God says they will bring upon themselves the destruction they deserve.

12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; 13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

Notice how they relate to real Christians: they deceive us! They think it’s fun (that’s what “sporting themselves” means) to “infiltrate” the local assemblies, take communion as if they were a believer, come to potlucks, sing the songs, pray the prayers, and fool us all! And we are pretty easily deceived: we want to believe the best of people, so it is hard for us to see through their deceit. But usually, there will be discrepancies that arise, because they also want the pleasures of the flesh. Eventually, their behavior and their words will show their real heart.

They are Not God’s Children!

14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

I’ve often heard people say, “we are all children of God!” The Jews tried that with Jesus, and He told them that they were not children of God: rather, they were of their father, the Devil! (John 8:44) Yes, they were “cursed children!” But many assume that it means these had been children of God, and were now cursed. No: they had never been believers, had never entered into a covenant with God by sacrifice, and had never been reborn as children of God.

That is why they “cannot cease from sin!” Even believers can’t “eradicate their sin nature” and permanently cease from sin: But an unbeliever only has the one nature: They literally cannot cease from sin, (and “covetous practices”) because even when they do “good things,” they do so with wrong motives, trying to declare themselves righteous. Their relationship with Christ is based on knowledge alone; not faith (consider Judas as an example: he knew everything the other disciples knew: but he had never placed his faith in Jesus.) These false teachers knew the right way, and evidently made an outward attempt to conform (just like Judas), but then abandoned it, scorning it. (Keep in mind that Jesus confirmed that Judas was never born again…he was never cleansed. John 13:10,11)

15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet. 17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

They are doing as Balaam did (following his way), choosing money, power, and position over a relationship with God. (Balaam was a genuine prophet…a real believer: but he “sold out” and he was killed with the enemies of God.) The false teachers don’t even have that final saving grace: they are phonies; only pretending to believe, just like Judas. “Waterless wells,”  have nothing of eternal value to offer…nothing to quench the thirst of a soul desiring hope, and peace with God.

18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

We can be deceived!

It is entirely possible for a false teacher to draw away real believers after themselves: when Paul spoke to the Ephesian elders, in Acts 20:30, he warned that the false teachers would do just that! Believers can be drawn away into cults: they cannot be lost, but they can be rendered utterly ineffective, and unfulfilled. (When the holy vessels of God’s Temple were stolen by the Babylonians and used for the worship of false Gods, did those vessels become the “property” of those false Gods? No! They were still God’s Property, and He brought them back!) When Jim Jones led his followers into the jungle of Guyana and murdered them all, some of those had been members of evangelical Christian churches in the past, and very likely were real believers! But he was a persuasive speaker, speaking “great swelling words” as we just read in verse 18, and they were deceived! The result was a gruesome death for over 900 people.

But verses 20-22 are about the false teachers themselves, not believers: Notice, it says:

20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

Notice that there is no mention of “saving faith,” or any faith: We are not saved by knowledge; we are saved “by Grace, through faith.” The demons “know” Jesus! They recognized Him and called Him by name, when He was casting them out of the humans they had possessed. They knew Him as “the” savior, but not as their Savior. That “knowledge” could not save them. But how do we know these people were not believers?

21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Again, there is no mention of faith. That alone is important, but not necessarily conclusive. However, see what it also does not say: It does not say, “The sheep has turned back into a dog, and has gone back to eating vomit,” or “The sheep has turned back into a pig, and gone home to the hog-wallow!” No: God identifies these people, like Judas, as those who had never been cleansed…never been transformed, never been born again!

So, the false teachers in this chapter are unbelievers who masquerade as believers. Jesus warned (Matthew 7:15) against the false prophets, saying that “they come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” Paul warned against the same people, in Acts 20:29, saying that “grievous wolves” would arise, even from among the flock, and draw away disciples after themselves.

Conclusion: We have been warned!

And the only safety we have is found in God’s Word and His indwelling Holy Spirit. We are told to “Be sober! Be vigilant, for your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour!” You cannot be lost, but you can be deceived. Study God’s Word, and arm yourself against the trickery of the enemy, who desires to damage your walk with God. We will continue to work to equip the believers in this assembly to stand fast against that enemy.

Lord Jesus, continue to draw us into a deeper relationship with you through your written Word, by the Holy Spirit, and through fellowship with God and the people of God. Make us strong, and teach us to do your work.

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How Should We View the Bible?

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How Should We View the Bible?

© 2021 C. O. Bishop

2nd Peter 1:16-2:3

Introduction:

Over a month ago, we began to study through the second epistle of Peter, but were diverted by easter and some other needful things. Peter had spoken of the gifts of God and the goals he sets before us in the first 15 verses. so we are now returning, beginning at chapter 1, verse 16.

Revelation is not of Human Origin

16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.

First, Peter reminds the readers that there were no “fables” involved in the Gospel; every single point of the gospels had multiple witnesses, and not always the same few “yes-men.” Jesus had enemies, and they confirmed the miracles. (John 12:9-11) Peter then points out that he, James, and John were eyewitnesses of the Majesty of the revealed Christ on the “Mount of Transfiguration:” they saw His glory personally, and up close, and heard the voice of God the Father, calling them to hear Jesus, the only begotten Son. That is pretty amazing stuff!

But what does Peter do with that vision? Does he say, “I was one of the few chosen to see Jesus in His Glory, so you need to pay close attention to what I say!”? Nope: his next sentence (verse 19) is to point out that the Word of Prophecy (God’s Written Word) is more sure. It is more reliable than any special vision Peter had… more reliable than his experience.

Unreliable Sources

A fellow pastor once told me of a woman with whom he had attempted to share the Lord. She did nothing but argue, and when he attempted to show what the Bible had to say, she blurted, “I don’t care what the Bible says! I have my experience!” That is precisely the opposite of what Peter is teaching us. We are to trust God’s written Word above all experience, even if it seems to be supernatural experience. It is interesting to me that the false prophets who were contemporaries of Jeremiah all had visions and dreams, etc. and God says that they “caused the dreams themselves.” (Jeremiah 29:8)

How did they cause them? I have no idea: perhaps simply by their own desires, since they all desperately wanted Nebuchadnezzar to go away. Possibly it was caused through hallucinogens of some sort. (The Oracle at Delphi was apparently under the influence of volcanic gases inhaled from a crack in the ground under the shrine to Apollos. The Mescalero “seers” in the American southwest used Peyote cactus buds to enter a drug-induced state from which to give prophecies or spirit-messages of some sort. Drug-use to attempt spiritual enlightenment is common all around the world. But so is simple self-deception. Jeremiah 17:9.)

How Should We View The Bible?

What does Peter say about how we should see the Written Word of God?

19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

He says that we are to pay attention to it! “Take Heed!” Notice also the time-clause in verse 19: How long are we to “take heed” to the written word? “Until the day dawn and the daystar arise in your hearts!” (This is in reference to the Return of Christ!) God’s written Word is to be our central, primary, and, essentially our only reliable source for truth until Jesus comes back!

And how are we to give heed to it? “As unto a light that shineth in a dark place!” Think about this one: When you need to venture into a dark place (perhaps because the power is out) and you take a flashlight with you, where do you look? You always turn your eyes toward the place you have turned the light! You allow that light, however feeble, to guide your steps. Why? Because the character of light is to dispel darkness. And we can only see what is revealed by reflected light. So, how should we use God’s written Word? Treat it as if it were your only source of light in an otherwise dark world. Use it to make your path visible, and your footing secure.


Many Writers, but One Author

20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.


And here is the reason we should feel that way, and respond in that way: it is because, though humans were used by God to transmit His Word, they were no more the “authors” than the “bullhorn” is the authority when police speak to a crowd. Anyone can get a bullhorn; Anyone can hire a scribe to write down words. The Author is the key ingredient in this mix: Peter said that the scriptures are not something subject to private interpretation: They are God’s Word! The Prophecies did not come as a result of human will, but the Holy Spirit, starting out with a godly, submitted individual, moved those men (and sometimes women) to speak his Word. The result is really quite amazing, in my opinion:

Internal Agreement

Here are 66 separate documents (some, like the Psalms and the Proverbs, a compilation by more than one writer) written over a period of about 1,600 years, through approximately 40 different writers…or a few more. And they agree remarkably well, when one considers that in all but a very few cases, the different writers didn’t even know one another, and had utterly different backgrounds. In fact, as one who studies the Bible pretty consistently, I am constantly thrilled with just how completely it agrees with itself.

I have read books in which, though there was only the one (fairly famous) author, a careful reader will find mistakes and contradictions. But when people protest to me that “Oh, you know, the Bible is full of contradictions,” I reply, “Really? Name one!” (I can name a few—very few–and in nearly every case, the error can easily be determined to be a copyist error or translation error. And there are very few even at that level. And we are talking about a change in the age of an individual at a certain time, or the number of soldiers at a given place… not in any way related to doctrine.) But, almost without exception, those individuals don’t know a single one. It is just something they have learned to say, in an attempt to deny, or minimize Biblical Authority.

Over the last 45 years, I have become increasingly convinced that the Bible truly is the Word of God, and as such, it is the only reliable light in our sin-darkened world. The longer I study it, the better satisfied I am that this is the truth.

Other Clues

Let me give you some other examples of the things that have convinced me of its authority:

  • A rather “odd” one is simply the fact that God doesn’t “sugar-coat” or “whitewash” anything. He doesn’t claim that all his people, or all his servants or prophets or whatever, are just “wonderful people.” They aren’t, and He tells you about their failures. God does not allow the failures of His servants to affect the long-range outcome of His purpose. He is never “surprised” by human failure. But, He also doesn’t ignore it. The Bible is unique in that it does not “put people on pedestals.”
  • There were many prophecies within the scriptures which, if they were really true, and really from God, had to be fulfilled immediately or not at all. And they were not only fulfilled immediately, but to the letter, often in the presence of many hostile witnesses. (Example: 2nd Kings 7:17-20) Read it!
  • God uses the foolish schemings of man to achieve His ends, but He does not depend upon them. He is omnipotent, and will accomplish His directive will with or without our cooperation. We see many schemes where people tried to outsmart God. And it turned out to accomplish exactly what He said would happen. (e.g., Joseph the patriarch.)
  • The points at which the Bible touches secular history, where it could logically be expected to be confirmed (or disproved) by archeological evidence, are consistently confirmed by the very people who thought they were about to “disprove the Bible.”
  • The points at which the Bible touches upon science turn out to be entirely correct, as well.
    • The Bible has taught the fact of a primordial mega-continent from the beginning: but it wasn’t “proven” by science until the latter part of the 20th century.
    • God mentioned the “paths of the sea,” (Psalm 8:8) centuries before the ocean currents were known to exist, let alone be mapped out.
    • God said the world was “suspended upon nothing” (Job 26:7) centuries before science knew it.

Peter’s Conclusion

So, on the basis of what he shares in chapter one, Peter is preparing to lay out some key things for his readers to remember, in the remaining two chapters. But he prefaces it with the fundamental truth that the Written Word of God, the Bible, is our only dependable source of light in this dark world. And we have already seen that our job is to “hold forth the Word of Truth” and to reflect that light: we are to “shine as lights in the world.” (Philippians 2:15, 16)

The whole structure of the Christian life is founded upon the truth of God’s Word. In Paul’s instruction regarding the armor of the Christian warrior (Ephesians 6:14,) the truth of God’s Word is likened unto the belt that held up all the rest of a Roman soldier’s armor. We are to “stand, therefore, having our loins girt about with truth.”

So what happens if we don’t? What happens if we choose to be lackadaisical about Bible Study?

There will be False Teachers

Chapter Two

1 But 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 bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

Notice that the false prophets evidently knew that what they were proclaiming was not from God, even though they claimed to be His messengers. The false teachers, in similar manner, knowingly turn people away from the Cross, and replace God’s sacrifice with something else.

This has been the pattern since the beginning. Cain rejected God’s plan, thinking he could bring his own ideas, and his own worship offering. Remember, though, that to bring something other than the offering that God demanded is to set Him aside in favor of one’s own ideas.

2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

This is future tense, showing that God knew from the beginning what would happen: false teachers frequently gain a following. Why is this so? It is because the heart of Man already has a tendency to turn away from God’s light and choose darkness (Jesus said so! John 3:19.) So, when someone comes out with a message that “sounds reasonable,” and also satisfies our natural desire to avoid dealing with the reality of God, then our deceitful hearts gladly receive it.

3 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.

Evil Motives

What could be their motive? Why would someone do such a thing? In some cases, it is simply that people desire the honor of “having a following,” (Acts 20:30) even if it just means being able to say, “I have more Facebook friends than you do!” Some people just desire an audience. They don’t want to teach because of a commitment to feeding the flock, but rather because they seek social approval, or public acclaim, and personal validation.

Another motive, sadly, can be money. Verse 3 states that their motive is covetousness. I first assumed that the Greek root was “philargurion,” which literally means “the love of silver.” But this is actually a different, much broader word, “pleonexia,” which simply means “greediness,” not just a desire for money. In other words, there is something they are seeking to gain for themselves. Perhaps it is fame; some people crave power…who knows?

There are different degrees of this sin, and it is not limited to unbelievers, I have known pastors who I am convinced were genuine believers, who still saw their ministry as “a job,” and were always seeking a larger, wealthier church to serve. To me, that is very sad, as it surely calls into question one’s motives. They actually told me that they considered the small church in which they were currently serving to be a “stepping-stone” to better things. But, when I questioned them about their faith, it was clear that they saw Jesus as God in the flesh, and as their only hope for salvation. I do not think they qualified as a “false teacher,” though their motives certainly seemed to be flawed. This is the error of Balaam…marketing their giftedness for financial gain.

But, at the end of this chapter, we will see that the false prophets and false teachers mentioned here are not born-again believers. Their relationship with the Lord was built upon “knowledge,” to some degree, but evidently not saving faith…there was no transformation begun in their lives.

Are there cases today, where the motive clearly is money and they deny the Lord? Certainly! There are modern cults that were begun specifically as a hedge against taxation. The founder of one such cult was a relatively successful fiction writer, and quite cheerfully wrote the books framing his new “church,” knowing it was all a lie, and that it was only geared to make and keep money. But I am told it is now one of the fastest growing cults in the United States, including many rich, famous actors…which somehow seems fitting.

How to Spot a Cult

But one thing that all the cults have in common is that they either flatly deny the Deity of Christ, or they modify it in some way, to deny His authority and Honor, as God in the flesh.

Those who clearly teach any of the following:

  • that Jesus is not God, or
  • that Jesus is not the only savior, or
  • that His blood does not suffice to take away the guilt of those who trust in Him, or
  • that the Bible is not the Word of God, (and thus is not authoritative,)

are clearly crossing the line into “false teaching.”

If a believer has been deceived and teaches false doctrine, believing it is correct, does that make him or her a false teacher? Not the kind mentioned here. Believers do make errors and can teach those errors to others. That is not the focus in this passage but we can still take warning from the verses, as we hope to avoid being like those who deliberately detract from Jesus.

Being mistaken about the intent or meaning of some particular passage is not necessarily “false teaching,” but we are warned to study to show ourselves “approved unto God, workmen who do not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.”  So we study and we pray and we earnestly attempt to gain clear understanding of God’s Word, and to teach it accordingly.

We teach the Bible as being  literally the Word of God. We believe in the literal facts of the Gospel, that Jesus was literally God in the Flesh, that He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. We teach that Jesus is literally the Judge of all the earth, and the Master to whom we owe obedience and worship. We teach that His promises regarding our future are literally true and will be literally fulfilled.

Are there passages in scripture that are less literal: perhaps more symbolic or metaphorical in nature? Surely there are, but they are also easily identifiable as such. Perhaps it begins with “Jesus spoke a parable and said…” In fact, to certain groups of people, He only spoke in parables! And, in certain prophecies of future events, the characters, instead of being named, are only described, often in highly symbolic verbiage. But as a rule: we take the Bible to be meant literally, and to be understood literally, unless there is a specific clue to let us know that in this case, there is a metaphor, a simile, a parable, a symbol, or the like.

Look to God’s Word as the only Light in this dark world. It is completely trustworthy and authoritative. Study it, to clearly understand how to apply it in your life. Feed on it to become strong in your faith, and to be nourished and encouraged by the Lord, in Person. Remember that Jesus himself is identified as being the Living Word of God. As you draw near to the Written Word, be conscious that you are drawing near to Him, and can hear Him speaking.

We will continue to feed the flock here, on the written Word, and seek to obey the Living Word.

Lord Jesus, fill us with a sense of your eternal purpose and allow us to fulfil your heart’s desire and complete the work you have assigned your people. Raise us up as faithful Men and Women of God.

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