A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

Pentecost comes in the early summer (mid May-mid June).   It’s the only Levitical Feast Day between the 3 Spring Feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits) and the 3 in the fall (Rosh Hashanna, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles). The Hebrew name for this Day is Shavuot, which means weeks, so in Israel it’s often called the Feast of Weeks.

This is because it’s supposed to occur  7 weeks after the Feast of First Fruits (Lev. 23:15-16).  Deut. 16:9 confirms this.  “Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.” The first cutting of the grain took place on the Feast of First Fruits.   Since First Fruits was the first day after the Sabbath that follows Passover, it was always observed on a Sunday.  Shavuot, being 7 weeks later, was always on a Sunday, too, and celebrated the beginning of the summer harvest.

But  in 140 AD, following the final defeat of the Jewish nation after the bar Kochba revolt of 135 AD,  the Sanhedrin changed the focus of Shavuot from the summer harvest to the giving of the Law. They did this because Shavuot was one of the three feasts all Jews were required to observe (Exodus 23:14-17 tells us Unleavened Bread and Tabernacles were the other two) and the defeated and dispersed nation would no longer have any national harvests to celebrate.  From that time on, the count down began from the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the day the Israelites left Egypt.  So now Shavuot can come any day of the week and takes place on the 6th day of the Hebrew month called Sivan, which is the traditional day Moses received the Law from the Lord.  Making this change placed the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai exactly seven weeks after the Exodus from Egypt and preserved the Feast of Weeks in Jewish life.

Christians call this day by its Greek name, Pentecost, from a Greek word that means “50 days”.  There were 50 days from the Sabbath that followed Passover to the Feast of Pentecost, and that’s where the Greek name comes from.

Early Christians also changed the way the various dates are determined, although we’ve retained the Sunday requirement for Pentecost.  Christians now start counting on the day we call Easter Sunday, which is officially the first Sunday after the first full moon that follows the Spring Equinox. We count Easter Sunday as day one, so Pentecost is always 49 days after Easter and always comes on a Sunday. By counting Easter Sunday on both ends of the span we can arrive at 50 days (Pentecost) and still keep the celebration on the 7th Sunday after Easter.

I know all this is really confusing, but the bottom line is that in 2013 the Jewish observance will take place on Tuesday May 15 and Christians will celebrate Pentecost on Sunday May 19, which this year  happens to be the Biblically established date.

What’s a Pentecost?

As I said, Jews now celebrate Pentecost (I’ll just use its Greek name to avoid any more confusion than necessary) as the day Moses received the Law on Mt. Sinai and the nation of Israel was born. (Exodus 19-20) Christians celebrate it as the day the Holy Spirit came upon the Disciples in Jerusalem and the Church was born (Acts 2).  If you agree with my view that the parables of Matthew 13 describe the Kingdom of Heaven during the Church Age and that the parable of the yeast (Matt. 13:33) predicts the Church will be filled with sinners, you’ll be interested in the fact that unlike all the other Jewish Feasts that call for unleavened bread (no yeast), Pentecost calls for two loaves of bread baked with yeast (Lev. 23:17).  In the Bible leaven, or yeast, is a model of sin because it causes the dough to begin spoiling.

Other Jewish Pentecost ceremonies also reveal a subtle link to the coming church. In synagogues, the Book of Ruth is read on Pentecost. The story of Ruth has been called “The Romance of Redemption”.   It’s about Naomi, a Jewish woman from Bethlehem who lost her land due to a famine in Israel and was forced to flee into neighboring Moab, where there was no famine.  Shortly thereafter her husband passed away leaving her penniless and alone in a foreign country.

After the famine ended, she returned to Bethlehem accompanied by Ruth, a gentile woman who had sworn never to leave her.  Ruth was a Moabite who had married one of Naomi’s sons (who also died) making her Naomi’s daughter-in-law and a destitute widow as well.

Once back in Bethlehem Naomi’s close relative, a prominent Jewish man named Boaz fell in love with Ruth and married her.  In the process he also regained Naomi’s land as her kinsman redeemer.  Both these events were accomplished according to the Law.  For Naomi it was the law of redemption (Lev 25:25), and for Ruth it was the law of leverite marriage (Deut. 25:5-6).

The modeling here is dramatic, with Naomi in the role of Israel, destitute and alone; Ruth as the Church, the gentile bride; Boaz as the Messiah and the story itself as a prediction of the relationship that would involve all three of them.  In the process of redeeming Israel, the Messiah takes a gentile bride. In doing so, He saves both from their destitute condition and restores Israel’s Land.  The identification of the Church with Pentecost began in the prophecies of Ruth. To learn more about these incredible prophecies, and enjoy one of the world’s classic love stories, read Ruth’s Story.

By the way, Boaz was the son of Rahab, the harlot from the Book of Joshua (read “The Gospel in Joshua … The Story of Rahab” ), and 3 generations later his great-grandson David became the King of Israel. Rahab and Ruth are both listed in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 1:5), and King Solomon named one of the pillars at the entrance to the Temple after his ancestor Boaz.

When’s Your Birthday?

By tradition Enoch, one of the patriarchs from Genesis 5, was born on the day later to be known as Pentecost. Enoch’s name means “teaching”, a primary function of the Church (Matt. 28:19-20)  For this reason many scholars see him as a “type” of the church as well. Genesis 5:21-23 indicates that Enoch had a close relationship with God and was actually taken live (raptured) into Heaven before the Great Flood. Pre-Trib scholars see this event as one of several Old Testament hints that the Church will disappear from Earth before the Great Tribulation.

These same traditions also hold that Enoch was taken on his birthday. So here’s a man identified with the church being born and raptured on the day that would become Pentecost, the day the church was born.  Will the Church be raptured on our birthday too?  Personally I don’t believe the Rapture of the Church will be the prophetic fulfillment of any of Israel’s Holy Days.  But if I’m wrong and the Rapture does fulfill a Jewish Feast, Pentecost is by far the most obvious candidate.

As you probably know, I believe the reason no one on Earth can accurately predict the day of the Rapture is because it’s a number specific event, not a date specific one. In Romans 11:25 Paul implied the church has a “full number”, when its ranks will be considered complete.  When that number is reached the Church will “come in” which means it will arrive at its scheduled destination, like when a ship “comes in.”  Jesus said the destination of the Church is His Father’s house (John 14:2). Put it together and I believe it means we’ll be raptured as soon as the pre-determined number of Christians has been born again, no matter what day it happens to be.

Soon And Very Soon

One day soon now, all who are in Christ, having heard and believed the Word of Truth, the Gospel of our salvation (thereby receiving the seal of the promised Holy Spirit) will suddenly disappear from the face of the Earth along with all children and others who are intellectually incapable of making informed choices about their eternal destiny. In one instant we will have been going about our daily routines on Earth and in the next we’ll be standing in the presence of our Redeemer, our sins forgiven and forgotten, and all our imperfections gone. Among us will be all the faithful dead of the Church Age, reunited with perfected bodies and restored to eternal physical life. Together we will begin the most incredible journey of exploration and realization ever dreamed of, and it will last forever.

Neither we, nor the unbelieving world, will have received any advance warning of the timing for this event; it will have come totally by surprise. Maybe it will happen on Pentecost, maybe not. But one thing is certain, when it does happen, none of us will care one bit whether we had predicted it’s timing accurately. We will only express in unimaginable joy our gratitude for being there. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephe. 2:8-9)

As it is written: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him – but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:9-10). You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 05-18-13.

Last Week’s Feature Article by Jack Kelley

The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. (Psalm 110:1-2)

The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 110:4)

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, ” ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” ‘

If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Matt 22: 41-46)

It’s pretty clear that both the Lord and the Pharisees he was addressing believed that Psalm 110 referred to the Messiah and that the Holy Spirit had inspired King David to write it. Where they differed was in their understanding of the Messiah’s origins. The Pharisees believed he would be a human descendant of King David, and nothing more. The Lord knew He was also God in the flesh, and quoted Psalm 110 to remind them that David knew this too.

Many translations show the first appearance of Lord in Psalm 110 all in caps (LORD) and the second one in lower case except for the first letter (Lord). This is to show that David was writing of a conversation he overheard, through the power of the Holy Spirit, between the Father and the Son.

There are two facts to support this conclusion.  First, Lord is a title one uses in addressing a superior, and only two were superior to the King. One was God the Father, represented by LORD and the other was God the Son, called Lord.  In effect Jesus reminded the Pharisees that David would have referred to a merely human descendant as his son, not as his Lord.

And second, in Hebrew the “word” translated LORD is YHWH, the four initials of the unpronounceable name of God, and used only of Him, while the one translated Lord is a different word, Adonai.

Responding truthfully to the Lord’s question would have forced the Pharisees to agree with David, something they weren’t prepared to do. Not then, not ever. At His trial before the Sanhedrin, the Lord’s declaration that He was the Messiah and that they would all see Him seated at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of Heaven is what stirred them to convict Him of blasphemy, a capital crime. (Matt. 26:64)

Their only problem was that the Romans wouldn’t let them execute anyone without permission.  So they took him to Pontius Pilate.  Pilate wasn’t concerned about the charge of blasphemy. That was an internal matter among the Jews. But in calling Himself a King (John 18:33-37), Jesus was confessing to treason under Roman law, also a capital crime (Matt.27:11). Even then Pilate was inclined to release Jesus, but when the crowd became adamant, he saw a way to yield to their wishes while remaining within Roman Law. That’s why he had them place a sign on the Lord’s cross that said, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”  He was announcing that the crime for which Jesus was being executed was treason.

King Jesus, Our High Priest

David had written that the Messiah would be both a king and a priest just like Melchizedek had been. From Genesis 14:18 we learn that Melchizedek, whose name means King of Righteousness, was both a priest of the Most High God and the King of Salem, a Jebusite city that later became known as Jerusalem.  When David conquered the Jebusites he made Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and purchased the land on nearby Mount Moriah where Abraham had sacrificed Isaac several hundred years earlier for the Temple location.

Never since the founding of Israel had one man been both a king and a priest. It was forbidden. Kings came from the tribe of Judah, while priests were descended from Levi.  One king who tried to function as a priest earned the Lord’s immediate displeasure, and serves to illustrate the point. Daring to offer incense in the Temple, King Uzziah immediately contracted leprosy and was quarantined till his dying day (2 Chron. 26:16-21).  Some prophets were also priests, Ezekiel and Zechariah for example, and David was a king and a prophet.  But no one was ever both a king and a priest in Israel.

However, prophecies in Ezekiel 21:25-27 and  Zechariah 6:9-13 tell us the two offices will eventually be united when Messiah comes and that He will be both a king and a priest.   And of course in the Book of Hebrews Jesus is called our King (Hebr. 1:8) and Our High Priest (Hebr. 4:14).  This is possible because Jesus is not a priest in the Levitical sense but in the higher order of Melchizedek.  All of Hebrews 7 is devoted to this topic.

I Know I Am But What Are You?

In Exodus 19:6 Israel is called a kingdom of priests but in 1 Peter 2:9 we read, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” He was speaking to the Church, calling us a royal priesthood.   Only kings are considered royalty.

And in Revelation 1:5-6 it’s even clearer. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (KJV)

Some of the modern translations prefer the word kingdom over kings in the passage above, and it’s true, the Greek word there can be translated either way. They try to compare the Revelation passage with Exodus 19:6 to bolster their replacement theology bias, making the Church look like Israel. But to most conservative scholars it’s clear that both the context and the grammatical structure of the passage require that the Greek word be translated kings. (The same is true in Revelation 5:10 where the same phrase is repeated.)

Kings Of What?

The Bible doesn’t have a specific answer for this, but in Ephesians 2:6-7 Paul wrote,  “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” 

The “coming ages” alludes to the time of the Millennium and beyond where we’ll serve as living examples of the incomparable riches of God’s grace, seated with our King and High Priest on His throne.

Throughout human history the best kings have always been the ones most sincerely devoted to the well being of their subjects. And  the priests  were not just religious officials.  In most generations they were their society’s repository of knowledge in philosophy, literature, religion, art, music, history and language. If these can serve as worldly models of our heavenly future, then we can assume there’s a lot more to being a king and a priest than sitting on a throne or conducting a worship service.

In the USA we don’t have a royal family so many of us don’t know what that’s like.  But people from other countries do, and they know that for the most part, “royals”, as they’re called, don’t work.  Many of them don’t even help run the countries their families rule.  They follow a higher calling,  pursuing personal interests and living lives of service.  They have no need to support themselves, so they’re free to devote all their time, energy, and intellect to the things they find to be the most fulfilling.

On Earth we all have a sin nature, so we can be drawn off the path of righteousness, and we’ve seen that happen with many royals.  And because of our fallen nature even the best of us can only achieve a small percentage of our nearly limitless potential.  But in our perfected state, these things won’t be a problem.   We’ll discover that God created us with capabilities we’ve barely used.  Now we’re like a thoroughbred race horse that has been consigned to pulling a child’s cart.  But all that will change forever at the rapture.  Finally there will be nothing to prevent us from achieving our full potential in any undertaking we can imagine.

Both Paul (1 Cor. 15:42-44) and John (1 John 3:2) made it clear that we won’t know in advance exactly what we’ll be like after the rapture/resurrection.  Our motives, our capabilities, and our  appearance may all be different.  But they both said we’ll be like Jesus. That means whatever we do will be pleasing to God and done for His glory. We can only speculate about the specifics.

Does all this exceed the limits of your imagination? Of course it does. That’s why Paul called it “the incomparable riches of His grace.” He also said, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9). Having been there and seen our future (2 Cor. 12:2-4) he knew it was beyond the ability of our sin-contaminated minds to imagine.  But know this.  Being both a king and a priest will be by far the most rewarding, fulfilling calling we’ve ever had. Selah 05-11-13

I first wrote about the so-called blood moons five years ago. (For reasons I’ll explain below, total lunar eclipses are called blood moons.) At the time a video series on the subject was being heavily marketed as revealing the date of the second coming. By now most people no longer believe that, but the series is still popular and since we’re getting closer to the time of their arrival I’ve been getting questions about the blood moons again. So here’s an update.

As many of us already know there are some remarkable celestial events coming in 2014 and 2015. There are two sets of lunar and solar eclipses that will take place on or near Jewish Feast dates. There will be lunar eclipses on April 15 and October 8 in 2014 and on April 4 and September 28 in 2015. What makes them remarkable is that in both these years the spring eclipses will come on Passover and the fall ones will come on the Feast of Tabernacles.

When four consecutive lunar eclipses are all total eclipses the series is called a tetrad. While there will be 6 other tetrads during the 21st Century those in 2014 and 2015 are the only ones that will all come on Feast dates. We should note that of the 2014-15 lunar eclipses only the last one (Sept. 28, 2015) will be visible from Israel, and then only partially.

But there’s more. In 2015 there will also be two solar eclipses, and again one will come in the spring and the other in the fall. The spring solar eclipse will take place on the first day of Israel’s religious year (Nisan 1) fourteen days before Passover, and the one in the fall will come on the first day of the civil year (Tishri 1) six months later, which is Rosh Hashanah, or the Feast of Trumpets.

Does This Happen Often?

Counting the ones in 2014-15 there will have only been 13 tetrads in the last 500 years and of those only 2 have previously come at the time of Jewish feasts. One was in 1949-50 and the other one was in 1967-68. A tetrad being a series of four, that means we’re talking about eight total lunar eclipses. Of those eight only the one in April 1950 was fully visible from Israel, four others were partially visible and the rest were not visible at all. (Since these are being touted as signs to Israel, you might wonder why they weren’t all visible there.)

The tetrad in 1949-50 began a year after Israel’s re-birth as a nation on May 14, 1948. The one in 1967-68 began in April, about six weeks before the 6 day war that ended in the reunification of Jerusalem. The proximity of these occurrences to watershed dates in Israel’s modern history leads some to believe that the tetrads coming in 2014-15 will be similarly important to Israel.

Personally I’m not as impressed with this as some others are. Biblical history tells us God’s signs are clear and specific. The Bethlehem star is a case in point. If you’ve ever tried to follow a star without the benefit of modern equipment, you know the fact that the Magi were able to follow it to Jerusalem from hundreds of miles away is impressive in itself, but then it led them from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, a distance of only 5 miles. According to Matthew 2:9-11 the star led them right to the house where the Lord’s family was staying. Could it be God?

Contrast that with the tetrads in 1949-50. They weren’t specific to the event they were supposed to be heralding. God’s chosen people officially became a nation again after a 1900 year absence on May 14,1948 but the first eclipse in the tetrad didn’t appear until a year later. Signs from Heaven are supposed to tell us that things are about to happen, not that things already have happened. Proponents of this theory had to search through the records to find an event related to Israel’s history that would coincide with the date of the eclipse. They chose the conversion of Israel’s provisional government to a permanent one. Did God wait until then to provide a sign because He was uncertain as to whether Israel would make it? And did anyone on Earth recognize these events as signs from heaven at the time? You could forgive Israel for not noticing. For the most part the eclipses were not even visible there.

To prophecy students, the rebirth of Israel was a long awaited sign that the end times had begun, and everyone of them noticed it. This is the sign God was sending us at that time, not a series of eclipses that arrived a year after the fact, and were only visible to some.

At least the first half of the 1967-68 tetrad bracketed the six day war that led to the reunification of Jerusalem, but again no one noticed it for 40 years. That’s probably because neither of the 1967 eclipses was visible at all in Israel, and of the 1968 eclipses only the one in April was visible and then only partly so. Three out of the four could not be seen at all by the people for whom the sign was supposedly intended.

Some say the tetrads of 1949-50 and 1967-68 happened during two important wars in Israel, the war for independence and the six day war. They use this as support for predicting another important war for Israel in 2014-15. This at least sounds plausible, even though the war of independence ended a month before the first of the 1949 eclipses occurred, and none of Israel’s other important wars happened during a series of eclipses. But there are three wars prophesied for Israel that have yet to happen, any of which could theoretically take place between the spring of 2014 and the fall of 2015. Of course I’m referring to those prophesied in Isaiah 17, Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38-39.

Is That Biblical?

But let’s look at what, if anything, the Bible says about this. The underlying support for the eclipse hypothesis is Genesis 1:14 where the King James translation reads,

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years;

To make the passage read more easily in English, the translators inserted the word “and” in several places in this verse. According to the interlinear Bible, a more literal reading of verse 14 would go like this.

Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaven to separate the day from the night. Let them be for signs; seasons, days, years.

Inserting the additional articles makes the King James version look like the lights are for signs as well as to mark the seasons, days and years. But I think the interlinear is closer to the original intent of Genesis 1:14. The NIV translation agrees. It reads,

Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years.

All this to say it’s not clear that Genesis 1:14 says one of the functions of the lights in the sky is to serve as signs of important events. This has to be read into the passage. Most likely it simply says that observing the Sun and Moon enable man to keep track of time.

Second, the phrase “moon turned to blood” comes from Joel 2:31 which says this will happen before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Peter quoted this verse in Acts 2:20. In Rev. 6:12 we find another appearance of the “blood moon” phrase. These three are the only such verses in the Bible and they all agree that a “blood moon” will appear sometime before the beginning of the Great Tribulation. But all three of these references also mention the Sun going dark at the same time.

Most of us know that the Moon doesn’t produce any light of its own. Light from the Moon originates on the Sun and is reflected to Earth. You can’t have a lunar eclipse if the Sun is not producing any light, as is the case in Joel 2:31, Acts 2:20, and Rev. 6:12.

Some explain this as being a case of a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse happening at the same time. But that’s impossible, too. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon. As the light from the Sun bends around the Earth and passes through it’s atmosphere on the way to the Moon it takes on a reddish hue. During a total eclipse this will make the Moon appear to be dark orange in color, causing it to be called a blood moon.

But a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth. As the eclipse progresses the Moon will look like a black ball crossing the Sun. In a total solar eclipse all the Sun’s light will be blocked and both the Sun and the Moon will appear to have turned black.

Matt. 24:29, which speaks of the end of the Great Tribulation, says the Sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. This event is also mentioned in Mark 13:24-25. (In Luke 21:25 it’s referred to as signs in the sun, moon and stars.) It’s what a total eclipse of the Sun looks like, although in this case I believe something much more permanent will be happening. I don’t think the Sun will ever come back, but will be replaced by the New Jerusalem.

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it (Rev. 21:23-24).

Also, from any given location a lunar eclipse can only happen at night and a solar eclipse can only happen during the day. For these reasons you can’t have a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse at the same time.

How Many Blood Moons Are There?

The Bible only mentions one blood moon, not a series. Nor does it mention a blood moon in connection with any event in world history except the one that will come in advance of the Great Tribulation. All this means the celestial event spoken of in Joel 2:31 and repeated in Acts 2:20 and Rev. 6:12 is unlikely to be an eclipse of either the Sun or the Moon.  Clearly the appearance of a blood moon before the beginning of the Great Tribulation is intended to be a unique and unmistakable sign.

What’s Your Point?

In conclusion we can say that the mention of the sun and moon as signs in Genesis 1:14 probably refers only to keeping track of time. We can also say that the past tetrads do not meet the test of a Biblical sign as exemplified by the star of Bethlehem or the blood moon of Rev. 6:12. Further, tetrads are never mentioned in the Bible at all and therefore can’t be Biblically linked to any significant event in Israel’s history or future. And finally, the blood moon that will signal the coming Great Tribulation is a single sighting, not a tetrad, and most likely isn’t due to an eclipse at all because the Sun will be dark and it’s impossible for solar and lunar eclipses to happen simultaneously.

Therefore, although there’s a high probability that something of prophetic significance will happen in or to Israel between the spring of 2014 and the fall of 2015, I don’t think the tetrads that will occur during that period can be viewed as a sign from God that this will be the case.

Amos 3:7 says, Surely the sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets. It’s still true that if you want to know everything the Lord has revealed about coming events, the best place to look is in the Bible.  Natural occurrences can never substitute for the word of the prophets. Selah 04-27-13

I have always been a strong advocate of the idea that there is much to be learned about our Christian faith by studying the Old Testament, and especially the  commandments and traditions surrounding the Feasts of Israel.  Having served for a time as the leader of a Messianic congregation where we observed these feasts in their prescribed manner, I saw how dramatically they reveal the Messiah.  In my opinion, Christians who don’t understand or appreciate the Hebrew origins of our faith lack the perspective this knowledge brings us.

Sadly, many in what’s now being called the Hebrew Roots movement seem to be going to extremes with this. It’s like they’re trying to become the polar opposite of Replacement Theology. (Most of you know that Replacement Theology claims the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan due to Israel’s rejection of the Messiah). Where Replacement Theology claims the only place for Israel is as part of the Church, some in the Hebrew Roots movement assert that the only place for the Church is as part of Israel.

While Hebrew Roots appears to teach that because of the Lord’s death, obedience to the Law is a privilege and not a requirement, a number of its teachers seem to be going well beyond that. They claim that in fact Torah observance is a requirement for all believers. Some have also abandoned the Greek based New Testament in favor of translations from Aramaic texts, due to alleged errors in the Greek based texts. They say those who call the Lord by His English name (Jesus) are actually worshiping a pagan god, which according to them makes traditional Christianity a pagan religion. They want us to believe that the only acceptable name for the Son of God is Yeshua (His name in Hebrew), and the only acceptable way to worship Him is by obeying the Torah and observing the Feasts of Israel.

(One of the favorite tactics used by people on both ends of the spectrum who can’t find support for their beliefs in the Bible is to say it wasn’t translated correctly. And yet the best scholars of each generation have poured over the ancient manuscripts to give us the most accurate translations possible. There are about 5600 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament in existence, and cross checking has shown their consistency to be over 99%.  In other words all these ancient Greek manuscripts essentially say the same thing. For additional support there are 19,000 early manuscripts in other languages. This exceeds the manuscript base for any other ancient book by a very wide margin.

Most reasonable people would agree that for all practical purposes our New Testament is an accurate rendering of these early manuscripts.  Therefore the only conclusions we can draw are that either 1) all these scholars have somehow committed identical mistakes in their translation efforts, or 2) they’ve all participated in a massive conspiracy to mislead us that has spanned 2,000 years, or 3) the people who say the Bible is translated incorrectly because it doesn’t support their position are wrong.)

But even more importantly, neither Replacement Theology nor Hebrew Roots seems to recognize that Israel and the Church are uniquely different and that both have roles in the fulfillment of end times prophecies that are mutually exclusive.

Give Us Some Examples

In the Old Testament, God promised Israel that He would return one day to dwell among them in their land on Earth forever (Ezekiel 43:1-7).  In the New Testament, Jesus promised the Church that He would come back and take us off the Earth to be with Him in His Father’s House (John 14:1-3).  Both these promises will come true, so Israel and the Church will fulfill their prophetic destinies in different locations.

The purpose of the rapture of the Church is to remove us from the time and place of the end times judgments that will take place on Earth (1 Thes. 1:10, 1 Thes. 5:9, Rev. 3:10).

The purpose of the end times judgments is to completely destroy all the nations to which Israel has been scattered (Jeremiah 30:4-11) and to purify Israel in preparation for the coming Kingdom (Zechariah 13:8-9).

The Millennium For Israel

The primary purpose of this Kingdom (known to the church as the Millennial Kingdom) is to give Israel its long promised Kingdom Age, although the entire millennial world will benefit from it. After the Lord returns, Earth will be restored to the condition it was in when Adam was created (Matt. 19:28, Acts 3:21). This will include restoring peace between man and the animals, bringing back Earth’s original garden-like environment with its world wide sub-tropical climate, eliminating foul weather, killer storms, earthquakes and extremes of heat and cold.

Israel will be the preeminent nation on Earth during the Kingdom Age, and surviving tribulation believers and their descendants from all nations will come to Jerusalem to learn the ways of the Lord. He will settle their disputes, making war between nations a thing of the past.

The promised land will blossom as never before. The desert and wastelands will be transformed into a garden paradise so lush and beautiful that people will know its been transformed by the Lord himself. Everlasting joy will crown their heads while sorrow and sighing will flee away.

The wealth of neighboring nations will pour into Israel. Camels will be brought from Midian. Gold and incense from Sheba will adorn the Lord’s Temple in Israel. Flocks from Kedar and Nebaoith will be received as offerings on His altar there. (Midian and Sheba were descendants of Abraham and Keturah, the wife he took after Sarah died. Kedar and Nebaioth were sons of Ishmael. Their descendants are all part of the Middle Eastern Islamic nations of today.) The ships of Tarshish (Great Britain) will bring gold and silver from afar. Any nation that refuses to serve Israel will be utterly ruined by divine decree.

Although death will still occur among natural humans, the span of man’s life will begin increasing again to approach those of the Genesis patriarchs. Sickness and disease, those by-products of sin, will be greatly reduced. It appears the population of Earth will be sustained by their return to an agrarian economy, but with all the obstacles Adam faced gone as the curse of Genesis 3 will finally be lifted. The land will become so rich and productive that one season’s crop will barely be harvested before it’s time to plant the next one. Every man will easily produce enough for his family’s use, and enjoy doing it. None will labor unproductively, or for the benefit of others. Children will grow up without fear and adults will grow old in peace (A summary of Isaiah 2:1-5, 4:2-6, 35, 41:18-20, 60:10-22, 65:17-25, Amos 9:13-15, Micah 4:1-8, Zech 8:4-5).

The Millennium For The Church

Meanwhile, life will be far different in the home of the Redeemed Church.  Although the Kings of the Earth will bring us their splendor, no unbeliever can ever set foot in the place, nor even a believer in his natural state. Our mansions in the sky will be built of the purest gold as will the streets that run before them, their foundations made from precious stones. There will be no Temple in the New Jerusalem because the Lamb of God will dwell there and is our Temple. The energy source that will light and warm us is the Glory of God, and our radiance will in turn provide light for the nations of Earth. (Rev.21:9-27)

Other than calling us Kings and Priests, the Bible doesn’t mention any kind of work for us. Our glorified bodies will have been released from their dimensional bonds, allowing us to appear and disappear at will, traveling back and forth through time at the speed of thought as we plumb the limitless delights of God’s Universe (1 John 3:2). No detail will be overlooked where our comfort and happiness are concerned. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Rev. 21:4), only the endless joys of exploration and discovery. As it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Cor. 2:9)

Our eternal home is not on Earth, but it’s not at the Throne of God either. Coming down out of the heavens but never landing on Earth, our home could be called a low orbit satellite in today’s terminology. 1400 miles high, wide and deep, it wouldn’t fit in Israel, let alone Jerusalem. If we did touch down on Earth we’d need a space equivalent to the area from Maine to Florida to the Midwest in the US, or all of Western Europe from Sweden to Italy. The New Jerusalem will be over 4000 times as tall as the world’s tallest building. Being nearly 2/3rds the size of the Moon, it simply won’t fit anywhere on Earth.

One God, Two Destinies

So the destiny of Israel has its place outside of the Church and the destiny of the Church has its place outside of Israel. The two are not the same and were never intended to be seen as such. The only thing these two groups will have in common is their belief that Jesus (Yeshua) died for their sins and rose again on the third day (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

But just as gentiles who converted to Judaism in Old Testament times became part of Israel, Jews who convert to Christianity in New Testament times become part of the Church. No matter what our background happens to be, conversion to Christianity makes us a new creation, neither Jew nor Gentile, part of an entirely new race of mankind.

Paul explained it this way. His (God’s) purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,  and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility (Ephes. 2:15-16)

Calling it a mystery previously unknown on Earth. He said, This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus (Ephes. 3:6).

In the beginning there was one classification of mankind. But in calling Abraham, God created a new classification. From then on there were two, Gentiles and Jews, and they are forever different. It remained that way until the cross, when as Paul explained, a third classification was brought into existence. Taking some from among the Gentiles and some from among the Jews, but making them different from either, God created a new classification called the Church. No matter what their former status was, from Pentecost until the Rapture everyone who comes to faith in the Lord becomes part of the Church and will inherit the Church’s destiny.

Those who choose to express their gratitude for the free gift of salvation through living by the Torah are free to do so. In the same way, those who choose to express their gratitude by striving toward the victorious Christian life described in the New Testament are free to do so. But anyone who teaches that either form of expression is required to achieve or maintain their salvation has run afoul of clear Biblical instruction to the contrary.

Paul was a great Jewish theologian who, because of the revelations he received, had a better perspective on this than anyone before or since. He admonished us to go beyond “mere” salvation to battle for victory over the flesh (1 Cor. 9:24-27). But in some of the clearest statements in the New Testament he said,

No one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin (Romans 3:20).

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day (Colossians 2:16).

I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? (Galatians 3:2-3).

There’s Nothing New Under The Sun

This disagreement over the proper response to God’s gift of salvation is not new. In the earliest days of the Church there were those among the Jewish believers who insisted that the only path to salvation for Gentiles was to first put themselves under the laws and practices of Judaism. The council of Jerusalem put that idea to naught and authorized Gentiles to be received directly into Christianity. Still the “Judaizers” followed Paul from city to city trying to undo what he had done. Later, Gentiles who called themselves Christian forced whole communities of Jews to convert to Christianity upon pain of death. Both of these efforts were thought by their proponents to be pleasing to God, but in the end we can see that neither was.

That’s because when God looks into our future it’s not Jews and Gentiles He sees.  It’s Israel and the Church.  Each has its unique origin and each has its unique destiny. Whether it’s called Replacement Theology or Hebrew Roots, or anything in between, the idea of making either one a part of the other is man made and cannot be supported in Scripture. Selah 04-20-13

If you like, you can think of this as a follow up to our study titled OK, I’m Saved. Now What?  Having shown that once we became a believer all the sins of our life were forgiven at the cross, and the Lord no longer counts our sins against us, we now turn to the logical follow up question.  How should a believer respond to such an incredible gift?

Paul devoted much time to describing the appropriate response to the free gift of eternal life and it’s summed up in his admonition “Only let us live up to what we’ve already attained” (Phil 3:16). By the wording he used we know this is not something we do to achieve or maintain our salvation. He said we’ve already attained that. We do this as an expression of our heart felt gratitude for having been given the gift of eternal life. Make no mistake here, as unbelievers we were surely destined for the fires of hell.

In Ephesians 2:1-5 Paul laid this out in no uncertain terms.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

And just in case we missed it there, he repeated it in his letter to Titus.

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.  But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,  he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.(Titus 3:3-7)

Paul took pains to describe the way God saw us before we were saved. But now, because of the cross, He sees us as a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), having attained the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21) by faith in His completed work (Romans 3:21-22). And once again, please notice the past tense of Paul’s statements above.

Knowing that all this has already been done for us and can never be taken away no matter what, let’s see what our appropriate response should be.

The Practice Of Christian Living

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:1-2).

Someone once said, “Life is what you make it. It’s not what happens but how you take it.” Everything about the practice of Christian living is within our control. We don’t have to behave like everyone else. We can be transformed and it begins with choosing to behave differently.

Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Ephes 4:25-32).

I believe Paul was in effect, the first behavioral psychologist. He taught that while we can’t always control the circumstances of our life we can control our response to them. We have such a glorious future awaiting us that we don’t have to worry about gaining the approval of others by acting the way they do. Our primary goal is pleasing the Lord.

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:37-38)

Choosing to become more tolerant, forgiving and generous will have such a remarkable effect on our life that others will want to know what has happened to transform us. Instead of stuttering and stammering through an embarrassing attempt to “witness” to friends and neighbors we’ll find that our very life has become a witness to what God can do, and people will be drawn to us.

This is because the practice of Christian living is not all don’t do this or don’t do that, at least not in the negative sense. Remember Jesus said that He came so we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

To that end the Bible says we shouldn’t worry about how we’re going to get by, letting the Lord take care of that for us (Matt. 6:25-34). We shouldn’t let what Paul called the light and momentary troubles of this world get us down. We should no longer fix our eyes on the temporary things we can see, but focus on the eternal things we can’t see instead (2 Cor. 4:17-18). This is even more true for us than it was for the people of Corinth 2000 years ago because very soon we’re going to step out of this world and into the next one where the eternal things we’ve only been able to dream about will suddenly become our new reality.

In the mean time, do you hate your job because of a boss who’s hard to please? Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3:23-24)

Are your neighbors or associates hard to put up with? Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Romans 12:17-18)

We who’ve been given everything don’t have to worry about anything.

The Privilege Of Christian Living

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:4-7).

Because we’ve become children of the Creator of the Universe we can rejoice in everything that happens to us because we know that God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). We can always be at peace, even when our world seems to be crumbling around us. We fear nothing, we pray about everything, and we’re thankful for anything.

Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

This world is a dark and evil place, and though we are children of God the whole world is under the control of the evil one (1 John 5:19). Nowhere does the Bible promise us a trouble free life. What it does promise is a life of peace regardless of the circumstances. The Lord is our over comer and because of that we are privileged to be at peace. No matter what.

I’ve heard the Christian life compared to a roller coaster ride. Once we buckle into our seat we yield control of our circumstances to someone else. But because of our faith in the operator’s ability to bring us safely through the experience, we actually enjoy the scary unknowns we encounter along the way.

So it is with our life in the Lord. He didn’t promise that there would be no trouble, On the contrary He said there would be trouble. But when we encounter it we can be at peace, knowing He has promised to see us safely through it.

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:2,6)

Think about it. We can engage the Creator in conversation any time it suits us. He’s always in, we never need an appointment, and he’s never too busy for us. Whether it’s asking for a parking place on a crowded street or guidance on whether to pursue a career opportunity, He’s always available to listen and help.

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written:

“He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. (2 Cor. 9:6-11)

God has given us the privilege of helping Him distribute His endless resources to those in need. He so loves a cheerful giver that every time He finds one He makes them rich in every way so they will always have more than enough for themselves with sufficient excess so they can be generous to others on every occasion. Next to the gift of eternal life there’s no more remarkable promise anywhere in Scripture.

The Power Of Christian Living

Resist the devil and he’ll flee from you. (James 4:7)

Although Paul called him the God of this age (2 Cor. 4:4), Christians needn’t fear the devil because of the power we’ve been given.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

Jesus showed us how to do this in the wilderness temptations (Matt. 4:1-11). Using nothing but Scripture He demolished every one of the devil’s arguments and sent him packing. This same power is available to us. We just have to know the Bible well enough to activate it.

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven (James 5:14-15).

As is the case with everything James wrote, this is a clear promise without exception or equivocation. The Bible doesn’t promise we won’t get sick, but it does promise we can be healed. It’s a power the Lord died to give us.

“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:23-24)

And it’s not just healing. With sufficient faith we could literally move mountains. But faith is like our physical muscles. The more we exercise it the stronger it becomes. This is a case where the American lifestyle has become our enemy. It’s been too easy to get the things we want without the Lord’s help. It’s been hard to remember that opportunity does not equal mandate. But just because the banks will loan us more than we can repay doesn’t mean that we should go into debt to buy things we don’t need and can’t afford. Maybe the Lord is stripping those things away now to help us practice living by faith.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines (1 Cor. 12:7-11).

Charismatics often misuse their gifts in immature excesses of self glorification while fundamentalists avoid theirs like the plague refusing to acknowledge they even exist. But if the gifts of the Holy Spirit were ever used in the manner Paul described, the world would not be able to stand against their power.

Each of us has been gifted and could use the power our gifts contain to have significant effect on the little corner of the world we inhabit. Romans 12:1-8 tells us how to discover and use our gifts.

The Protection Of Christian Living

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (2 Cor. 1:21-22).

So we come full circle. Never let it be said that although God has the power to save us, He lacks the power to keep us.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30).

A US insurance company says we’re in good hands with them, but believers enjoy the ultimate example of being in good hands. Our policy is paid in full and our coverage can never expire. Not even we ourselves can snatch us out of their hands.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephes. 6:10-12).

A soldier’s armor can only protect him when he wears it, and he would never think of going into battle without being fully protected. We’re aliens behind enemy lines and as such are combatants in an ongoing battle. We’ve been given impenetrable armor, but in order for it to protect us we have to put it on and keep it on.

The Point Of Christian Living

All this leads to achieving the goal we all want most in life. Earlier I said that after becoming saved, our primary goal becomes pleasing the Lord.  But when we delight ourselves in the Lord He will give us the desire of our heart (Psalm 37:4).  By combining the practice, the privilege, the power, and the protection of the Christian life we can finally achieve complete personal freedom. Although we are still in the world we will no longer be of the world. Following the instructions for Christian living frees us of all the negative emotions that have afflicted us in the past. No more worry, no more stress, no more feeling out of control. We no longer have to be concerned with having enough money, or getting ahead, or keeping up.

The uncertainties of life that so preoccupy the thoughts of others won’t bother us any more. It doesn’t matter who gets elected to what office, or how bad the economy is getting, or whether the government will continue to break its promises. We’ll finally understand the full meaning of the Lord’s words, “When the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36) Praise the Lord. Selah. 04-13-13

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old has gone, the new has come! (2 Cor. 5:17). Only let us live up to what we have already attained (Phil 3:16).

These two verses summarize everything the New Testament has to say about life after salvation. Once we’re saved, God sees us as a new creation. Note the use of the past perfect tense in these verses; the old has gone, the new has come, we have already attained. We don’t make ourselves into a new creation, we have been made into a new creation. It’s not a process we undertake through hard work and self-sacrifice. It’s not even something that happens over time through careful submission to the prodding of the Holy Spirit. It has already happened. Hebrews 10:12-14 clearly states that the Lord’s once-for-all-time sacrifice has made us perfect forever. (Has made, not is making, or will make.)

Ephesians 1:13-14 says this took place at the moment we believed, and the seal of the Holy Spirit was given to us at that time to guarantee our inheritance. 2 Cor.1:21-22 adds that from then on it is God who makes us stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come.

This is an expansion of 1 Cor. 5:19-20, where Paul said we are not our own, but have been bought at a price. It means our destiny is no longer under our own control but has been taken over by God Himself.  If we try to wander off, He will hunt us down and bring us back, just like a shepherd brings back the sheep who wander off. Sheep don’t decide their own destiny. The owner determines that, and it’s the shepherd’s responsibility to make sure it happens. Read again what Jesus said about this.

I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day (John 6:38-39).

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30).

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ (Luke 15:3-6).

Don’t get the idea from this that I think God decides who will be saved and who won’t. That goes against Scripture (1 Tim. 2:3-4, 2 Peter 3:9). Remember, we don’t become sheep until we choose to become believers.

As believers, we’re part of the Good Shepherd’s flock. The destiny He has determined for us will come to pass and believe me when I say it defies description. He has been working for 2,000 years preparing the place where we’ll live with Him forever. The primary building materials for our new home are pure gold and precious gems (Rev. 21:18-20). At a time that is unknowable in advance, except that it will precede the coming end times judgments, He will call us up to meet him in the air and take us there, after which we’ll always be with Him (John 14:1-3, 1 Thes. 4:16-17).

All this is well known to long time followers of gracethrufaith.com, and is repeated here for review, to refresh our memories. The point of this study is to focus on our life as believers between now and when He takes us to our new home. If Jesus has done everything, and God has taken ownership of us to make our destiny certain, what is there for us to do?

Becoming What We Already Are.

This is where the second reference I quoted above comes in. In Phil 3:16 Paul wrote, “Only let us live up to what we have already attained.” Once again, note the past perfect tense in the phrase “we have already attained.” We don’t have to work to get this. We have already attained it. So what is it we’ve already attained?

In Galatians 4:4-7 Paul said Jesus came to redeem us so we could receive the full rights of sons. This confirms John 1:12-13 which says,

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Paul went on to say that since God has accepted us as His children, He has also made us His heirs. And that’s not all. After telling us we were formerly objects of God’s wrath, Paul wrote the following in Ephesians 2:4-7;

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

And again, please notice the past tense of these verbs. He made us alive, He raised us up with Christ. He seated us with Him. From God’s perspective these things have already been accomplished.

By saying that God seated us with Christ, Paul was making reference to Ephesians 1:20-21 where he said,

“He raised Christ from the dead and seated him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”

So that’s what we’ve already attained. We’ve become God’s children and His heirs, and we’ve been seated with Christ at His right hand, above every authority, every power, and every name.

As members of God’s royal family, we’ve been set free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). But such freedom carries great responsibility. In 1 Cor. 10:23 Paul wrote,

Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything is constructive.

Then he said, “Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others” (1 Cor 10:24).

As part of the royal family, we’re admonished to set the standard for appropriate behavior, but not because we have to protect our status. Our status has been guaranteed by God Himself. We do this as representatives of our Lord, who put the good of others above His own to the ultimate extreme. Paul said although He was God Himself, He didn’t demand to be treated as God’s equal. Instead He became the humblest of men, a servant to others, and was obedient even to death on a cross (Phil. 2:6-8).

Contrast that with the attitude of some men, who can never be God but demand to be treated as if they are. The anti-Christ is the Bible’s ultimate model of that behavior, exalting himself above everything that is called God or is worshiped, setting himself up in God’s Temple proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thes. 2:4).

What If I Don’t Do It?

Now before you get the idea I’m trying to guilt you in to cleaning up your act, let me state clearly that in the ultimate sense there’s no penalty for neglecting to live up to what you’ve already attained. You may live an unfruitful life here, but there is no power in Heaven or on Earth that can ever take away your status as a child of God. Paul said even if every thing you ever do as a believer is burned up in the fires of judgment, you’ll still be saved (1 Cor. 3:15).

According to Romans 12:1, living up to what we’ve already attained is a voluntary act of worship, an expression of our gratitude for the mercy God has shown to us. Through all of Paul’s instructions on how to live a Christian life, there’s never a threat that failure to behave in a certain way will cause us to be kicked out of God’s family. We can’t ever lose our royal status. By offering His body in payment for our sins the Lord was performing a voluntary act of service to His Father (Psalm 40:7-8). Had He refused to do so, He would still be the Son of God.  In the same way, offering our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, is our spiritual act of worship. If we refuse to do it we’ll still be one of His Children.

I can’t tell you how much I wish this had become the predominate teaching of the Church in regards to Christian living, instead of the hell fire and brimstone rants so many of us grew up hearing every Sunday. To hear them talk, it seems like God loved us enough to die for our sins while we still hated Him, but as soon as we declared our love for Him, He became determined to make us toe the mark and pay for every sin we ever committed afterward. And if we didn’t we would be disowned.

Maybe some of you are thinking of verses you’ve heard that appear to refute this idea of freedom in Christ. But if they did, the word of God would be contradicting itself, something that’s impossible for God to do. We’re not saved by grace, then kept by our own works. As soon as you add work to the equation, grace is canceled out. If our behavior could be good enough to keep us saved, it would have been good enough to save us in the first place, and God would not have had to send His Son to die for us.

Why Did He Do That?

Jesus didn’t die to make bad men good. He died so dead men could live. And He didn’t just get us started on the road to eternal life and then leave the rest to us. He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil 1:6).

Some would have us believe that the presence of the Holy Spirit within us makes it impossible for us to ever sin again. But all we have to do is observe the Christians around us to see that’s not true. The truth is that the Holy Spirit came to restore our power of choice. Unbelievers have no choice about their behavior because they’re only getting input from their sin nature. Believers get input from both their sin nature and the Holy Spirit and can choose which to accept.

But even then it’s not a level playing field, because our sin nature’s input is our default choice. It’s what will always feel most natural to us. We have to consciously choose to over ride the sin nature’s input to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That’s why some call following the Holy Spirit’s input making a “contrary-to-feelings” choice. It’s not natural to us. Sometimes we forget to consider our choices before acting and other times our natural inclination carries such strong feelings that we ignore the Holy Spirit’s counsel. This is when we sin.

Afterwards the Holy Spirit will convict us of our sin, we’ll feel remorse, and we’ll ask the Lord to forgive us. If we confess our sins, the Lord is just and faithful and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). The sin will immediately be forgiven and forgotten. God can do this because His son has already paid the penalty for it.

Listen to Paul’s testimony of his own experience with sin. “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sin nature. For I have the desire to do what is good but I can’t carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no the evil I do not want to do – this is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (Romans 7:18-20).

Paul said it was as if his spirit and his body were at war. One delighted in God’s law, while the other made him a prisoner of the law of sin. After admitting what a wretched man he was because of this conflict, He concluded by expressing his thanks to God for rescuing him from his body of death through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 7:21-25). You can feel the emotions behind his words shifting from extreme frustration to extreme gratitude.

This is a remarkable testimony and explains why being saved does not mean we are no longer able to sin. Being saved means when we do sin, God no longer counts it against us. He is able to separate the believer from the behavior. He sees the believer (us) as a new creation, free from sin, and attributes the behavior to our sin nature, which is not part of the new creation. Earlier in his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote that King David understood this would be the case a thousand years before the Lord came to earth. Quoting Psalm 32:1-2 he wrote,

Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him (Romans 4:7-8).

When Paul admonished us to live up to what we’ve already attained, he was telling us to stop and think before we act and listen to the counsel of the Holy Spirit. From his own experience he knew we couldn’t completely rid our lives of sin, but he also knew that living in a manner that’s pleasing to God is the very best way of expressing our gratitude to Him for making us a new creation and giving us the incredible gift of eternal life. Selah 04-06-13

The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:29,34).

John the Baptist had been preaching about the coming Messiah, identifying himself as the forerunner Isaiah had promised over 700 years earlier.  Quoting from Isaiah 40:3 John said, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord ‘ “ (John 1:23).

Introducing Jesus to Israel as the Lamb of God was no doubt meant to prompt a comparison between Jesus and the Passover lamb in their minds. Reading about the first Passover (Exodus 12:1-20) from a Christian perspective makes the similarity so clear we wonder how they could have missed it. In fact several hundred Old Testament Prophecies were fulfilled in the life of Jesus and many of these came in the last week of His earthly life during the two events we’ll be celebrating in the next few days, Passover for Israel and Palm Sunday for the Church.

For Christ, Our Passover Lamb, Has Been Sacrificed … 1 Cor. 5:7

By now the Passover story should be familiar to us.  The final showdown between God and Pharaoh was coming. Through 9 plagues God sent to demonstrate His power over the pagan gods of Egypt, Pharoah had remained just as obstinate as God had predicted. The 10th plague, the death of all the firstborn, would break Pharoah’s will and free the Israelites from their bondage, but first they had to be protected from the plague.

On the 10th day of the 1st month God had them select a male lamb for each household and inspect it for 3 days to be sure it had no blemish or defect. Then it was slaughtered, and its blood was applied to the door posts of their homes. That night, behind closed doors in their own house, each family ate the lamb quickly with some bitter herbs and unleavened bread,  not venturing outside.  At midnight the destroying angel came through Egypt and took the life of the first born of every family, except for those who had covered their door posts with lamb’s blood (Exodus 12:1-13, 21-23, 28-30).

The next morning the Israelites were released from their bondage and given the wealth of Egypt, beginning their journey to the Promised Land with God in their midst. They weren’t spared because they were Jewish, or because they had lamb for dinner, but because they applied the lamb’s blood to their door posts believing that it would protect them. They were saved through faith by the blood of the lamb.

Just as the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, we are slaves in this world, held in bondage to sin. On that first Palm Sunday, the 10th of the 1st month, our Passover Lamb was selected by allowing Himself to be proclaimed as Israel’s King for the first and only time in His life. When the Pharisees told him to rebuke His disciples for doing so, He said if they kept silent the very stones would cry out (Luke 19:39-40).  This was the day ordained in history for His official appearance as their Messiah.

For the next 3 days He was subjected to the most intense questioning of His entire ministry lest there be any defects found in His words or deeds. Then  on the 14th He was crucified, releasing us from our bondage to sin, and qualifying us to receive the wealth of His Kingdom.  We are saved through faith by the blood of the Lamb.  But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

The Son of Man Wept, The Son of God Warned

As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city He wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in from every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you” (Luke 19:41-44).

The prophet Daniel had laid out the schedule for them over 500 years earlier. From the time the Jews were given permission to rebuild Jerusalem after it had been destroyed by the Babylonians, to the coming of the Messiah, there would be 69 periods of 7 years each, or 483 years (Daniel 9:25). History tells us that this permission was given to Nehemiah by the Persian ruler Artaxerxes Longimonus in March of 445 BC (Nehemiah 2:1-9). The Sunday when Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem to the shouts of Psalm 118:25-26 was exactly 483 years later, but by then most of the Jewish leadership no longer took the Bible literally and the validity of predictive prophecy was being denied.

Regardless of their opinion, the Lord held them accountable for knowing when He would visit.  Given that hundreds of additional prophecies of His coming  had already been fulfilled in their midst, we can see His point.  Remember, they were all fulfilled in the span of one lifetime, the one in which He came. There are hundreds more prophecies relating to His Second Coming, and again all will be fulfilled within the span of one lifetime, the one in which He comes (Matt 24:34).  And just as it was then, our leaders no longer take the Bible literally and the validity of predictive prophecy is again being denied.  But regardless of their opinion, the Lord will hold the people of our day  accountable to “recognize the time of God’s coming” just like He did back then.

Who Was That Man?

A few days ago I got an email from someone I assume to be Jewish claiming that Jesus didn’t meet a single requirement to be Israel’s Messiah. I’ve received a number of these over the years and have come to realize they think this way because Israel was looking for a Messiah to fulfill what we know as second coming prophecies.  They wanted the Lion of Judah, a powerful warrior king like David, who could throw off the Roman yoke and restore Israel’s kingdom, because that’s what they thought they needed.   They didn’t think they needed a Savior, so when they got the Lamb of God who came to take away their sins they didn’t recognize Him.

Today, because of a similar denial of the validity of prophecy, much of the world is looking for some version of the Lamb of God.  They want a gentle teacher who will accept us all and promise to show us the way to peace and plenty.  They won’t think they need a conqueror, so when the Lion of Judah comes to utterly destroy His enemies and restore God’s Kingdom, they won’t recognize Him (Matt. 24:30).  Like the man said, “Those who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 03-23-13

As many of you already know, my newest book, The Redeemer, became available this week. Since it’s a little different from my previous efforts I want to give you some background on why I wrote it.

Why Did You Do That?

The current trend among ministries like ours is to tap into all the different social networking media in an effort to broaden their audiences. And while we’ve begun to do that as well, we’ve also been taking a look at what the world would be like if suddenly there were no internet ministries.

There are three reasons why I think it makes sense for someone in my position to consider this. First, of course, is the rapture of the Church. Without Christians around to maintain them, Christian websites would soon disappear too. And try as I might, I just can’t imagine asking one of my non-believing friends to take over in my absence if I should suddenly disappear, although that could certainly be the spark to ignite a conversation of a different sort. The problem is if the conversation resulted in the friend’s conversion I’d be right back in the same situation. I’d have to find someone who is not a believer now, but was guaranteed to become one right after the rapture. So far the Lord hasn’t revealed such a person to me.

The second reason is an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack. A nuclear warhead detonated in the atmosphere above the US would send an electromagnetic pulse hurtling to Earth at the speed of light. Depending on the height, the location, and the power of the explosion it could destroy all computers and other electronic devices in the US instantly. No more internet. No more electronics of any kind. Experts say this is where we are most vulnerable to terrorists because the capability already exists, it’s a relatively inexpensive weapon, and we have no defense against it.

The third reason is something that’s also in the works. The UN is persisting in their effort to gain control of and regulate the internet. One of their stated goals is to eliminate hate speech, but as we know in some people’s view hate speech includes Biblical Christianity. This is partly due to the fact that we’re opposed to homosexuality and abortion, and believe that non-believers will be condemned. If the UN gets the power it wants, Bible study websites like ours could soon be censored to the point of ineffectiveness.

For these reasons, I concluded that we should also pay attention to some of the more traditional means of mass communications, and that includes writing books. Books are more durable. Once they’re in circulation no one can push a button somewhere and erase them.  In short they’re better suited to times of political uncertainty.

What’s It All About?

So then the question became what to write about.  My experience answering Biblical questions over the past five years has taught me that a lot of Christians really don’t know very much about our faith. At some point in their lives they chose to become believers, but because there are so few opportunities for meaningful discipleship, they frequently just go on living as they had before. If someone asks them to explain their faith, they have a hard time doing so because what little knowledge they have is largely hearsay. And as for having a meaningful discussion with a curious non-believer, forget about it.

The majority of today’s believers are represented by the seed that fell among thorns in Matt. 13:7, which is part of the Kingdom Parables. Jesus described them as being unfruitful because they are too concerned about the things of this world (Matt. 13:22). According to recent surveys over 90% of people who call themselves Christians fall into this category. Now I’m not questioning their salvation. I’m talking about their fruitfulness. Salvation is not a fruit bearing event. It’s what we do after we’re saved that determines our fruitfulness.

An apple tree is born because the seed that was planted in the ground has germinated and produced a new life. It grows to maturity and begins to produce apples. Although the tree was alive from the moment it sprang forth from the soil it wasn’t considered to be fruitful until it produced more of its own kind. After all, apples aren’t just for eating. They’re also for producing more apple trees.

So it is with believers. We’re born again because the seed of the gospel was planted in our heart. But although we’re a new creation from the moment we believe we’re not considered to be fruitful until we produce more of our own kind. We’re not just for singing and praising God. We’re also for producing more Christians (Matt. 28:19-20)

From this I determined that three groups of people could benefit from knowing more about what Christians believe and why we believe it. In no particular order, they are curious unbelievers, new believers, and long time believers who want to become more fruitful.

After some prayer and reflection on this, I felt like the Lord had told me what to write about and who to write it to. I divided the message into eight parts, which became the book’s eight chapters. Eight is the number of new beginnings and it’s my prayer that many who read the book will be motivated to begin their life anew, whether by deciding to become a believer, or by having their faith strengthened through a deeper understanding of what the Lord has done for them.

Chapter 1. The Redeemer Is Promised

The book begins at the beginning, explaining how mankind became estranged from God and why we need a redeemer to bring us back to Him.

Chapter 2. The Redeemer Awaits

Chapter two is an overview of what God was doing between the time He promised to send a redeemer and the time of His actual arrival. Think of it as a very brief summary of the Old Testament as it concerns man’s redemption.

Chapter 3. The Redeemer Is Given

This is the Christmas story. To show that the Redeemer is the focus of the entire Bible I made liberal use of Old Testament prophecies that foretold of His coming.

Chapter 4. The Redeemer In Ministry

This chapter is devoted to a summary of things Jesus taught us about what He had come to do and why it was important for us to understand that He wasn’t starting a new religion. On the contrary, He was trying to re-establish a relationship.

Chapter 5. The Redeemer In Victory

This is the longest chapter in the book and gives a day-by-day description of His official presentation as the Redeemer, His final days of teaching, His crucifixion, and His resurrection, eight days that changed everything between God and man.

Chapter 6. The Redeemer In The Church

Following His ascension, the men He had trained and mentored began to build His Church. This chapter shows how the Church began, why and when the New Testament was written and what effect the Redeemer has had in the world. It ends with a prayer that allows those who began reading out of curiosity to become children of God.

Chapter 7. The Redeemer In Prophecy

Jesus didn’t die for us just so our sins could be forgiven. He died so whoever believes in Him can have eternal life. Chapter 7 explains why Christians have a right to believe there’s a future in store for us that exceeds our wildest expectations.

Chapter 8. The Redeemer Returns

We conclude with a summary of end times events that will take place after the rapture. It shows how God will fulfill the promise he made so long ago to reverse the devastating effects of sin and restore planet Earth to its origial condition.

In Summary

I wrote the book in simple straight forward language so even people who are not believers could see the importance of changing their lives and becoming born again. I included hundreds of Bible references within the text so new believers could use the book as a study guide to help them understand what our faith is all about. After a few hours of diligent study with nothing but this book in one hand and and a Bible in the other, a new believer can come away with a greater understanding of our faith than most seasoned veterans have. These references will also help long time believers search the Scriptures to prove whether what I’ve written is true in accordance with Acts 17:11, and rekindle the flame of faith they had at the beginning.

As I did with my last book, I’ve included an appendix with eight of our most popular studies on prophecy, eternal security, and faith.  These will facilitate continued growth and understanding.

All that said, I think The Redeemer will accomplish its stated goals in the life of anyone who reads it with a sincere desire to learn. I also think it will make an ideal gift for a person who has expressed interest in our faith, whether as a prelude to a personal discussion or to supplement one you’ve already begun.

Of course, you’d expect me to say something like that. After all, I wrote the book. The best way to see if I’m right is to get a copy and read it for yourself. Selah 01-26-13

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it (Genesis 3:6).

The Bible provides very little detail about the lives of Adam and Eve, especially where it concerns the event we call “The Fall of Man”. For example there is no reference that let’s us see how soon after their creation it took place, or what sort of life they may have had together previously. And we don’t know why Eve felt comfortable in a conversation with a serpent, or even what the serpent might have looked like. The Hebrew word translated serpent in Genesis 3:1 comes from a root that means enchanter, one who practices divination. This is an ability, not a physical description, and while Genesis 3:1 implies the serpent was part of the animal kingdom, we don’t normally think of animals as having abilities like that.

Most people assume Satan had indwelt the serpent and was manipulating it, but the way God pronounced a curse upon it tells us the serpent was not just an innocent victim of circumstances, but was a culpable participant. It’s also interesting that the prophecy of Satan’s ultimate defeat by the “seed of the woman” (a Messianic reference) was contained within the curse God pronounced upon the serpent (Genesis 3:15).

There were all kinds of trees in the garden that were pleasing to the eye and good for eating, but Genesis 2:9 makes specific reference to two of them, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Before Eve was created, God warned Adam against eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17). Since Eve explained this rule to the serpent (Genesis 3:2) she had been told as well.

Somehow the fruit of the tree of life sustained their immortality while eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil made them mortal, subject to death, and that’s why it was forbidden. Man was not created to be merely a mortal, but to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, after eating the forbidden fruit, to prevent their access to the tree of life. In their fallen state they were not allowed to regain their immortality. When God stationed cherubim at the entrance to guard the way to the tree of life, He was saying their banishment was not permanent (Genesis 3:22-24). The way back was being protected so that one day man can become immortal again.

There is a thought, both in Hebrew tradition and among early Christians, that the Garden was in a different dimension and that those who died believing in a coming redeemer went there to await Him. Some say this is the paradise Jesus spoke of from the cross in Luke 23:43.  (Paradise is a word of Persian origin that means garden). That would mean the believing dead entered the garden by means of a dimensional gate protected by cherubim, to eat from the tree of life and regain their immortality.

Whether that’s true or not, I think you’ll agree that there was much more going on here than we’re able to understand from the Biblical account. Because of that most people are content to take the Genesis narrative at face value and don’t give it too much thought. But when someone recently asked me what would have happened if Adam had refused the apple, the comments I received about my answer caused me to think a more comprehensive treatment of the question is in order.

Could You Repeat The Question?

Just to put us all on the same page, here’s the question I received and the answer I posted.

Q. What would have happened if Eve had eaten of the apple in the Garden but Adam had refused?

A. In 1 Tim. 2:14 Paul said Adam was not deceived, it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. The Bible doesn’t come right out and say this, but here’s what I think.  Had Adam refused the “apple”, which he could have chosen to do, Eve would have been eternally lost because there would have been no human race from which the redeemer could come to save her.

Adam loved her so much that he chose to join her in her fallen state so they could both be redeemed rather than to spend eternity without her. In that narrow sense Adam became a type of Jesus in that he gave his life for his bride so she could live forever with him. In Romans 5:14 Paul said Adam was a pattern of the one to come.

Now, I’ll respond to other questions and comments I received to give us a more complete view of what was going on than the Q and A format permits. One of the most frequent questions I’ve been asked is why did God create Adam and Eve in the first place, if He knew what would happen?

Of course, the Bible offers no answer to this, and when I’ve been asked in the past, I’ve usually ducked behind Paul’s “potter and pot” analogy. He wrote, “Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” (Romans 9:20).

But in my studies, I’ve come across several opinions and the one I like best came from Hal Lindsey.  He speculates that at his judgment Satan hurled 2 accusations at God: “You’re not just and You have no love.”

(I can’t help reminding us that just about every child has hurled these accusations at his or her earthly father, although with less maturity. In an emotional reaction to the pronouncement of some punishment or discipline they cry, “That’s not fair! You don’t love me!”)

In response to these accusations God did four things. The first two demonstrate perfect justice and the last two show His perfect love.

1. He created man, a being vastly inferior to the angels but sharing with them the properties of intellect, agency (power of choice) and eternal life, and gave him dominion over Planet Earth.

2. He gave man a set of rules to live by, and ordained that obedience to them was a requirement for life. Any violations (sins), even those committed only in the mind, would be punishable by death. There were no loop holes, and no one would escape judgment. Perfect justice.

3. He sent His Son to live a life in total compliance to these rules, the only man ever to do so, granting Him the right to govern the universe and receive all its worth as His inheritance in return.

4. He gave His Son’s life to purchase a pardon for all whose sins would require judgment, decreeing that by accepting His death as payment for their sins they would also receive eternal life and share in this inheritance as His adopted children. Perfect love.

Like other opinions, you can’t find chapter and verse to support this, but of all the ones I’ve seen this makes the most sense from a Biblical perspective. Man was created to demonstrate God’s ability to be both a just God and a loving God. I believe this is what Paul had in mind when he said,

“His intent was that now, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus, our Lord (Ephes. 3:10-11).

Any More Questions?

 Q. In your answer, you said “Had Adam refused the “apple”, which he could have chosen to do, Eve would have been eternally lost because there would have been no human race from which the redeemer could come to save her”.  Why was it necessary for Adam to sin?  I mean, if Adam didn’t sin, how is it that “there would have been no human race”?

A. Adam and Eve were created in the likeness of God, but according to Genesis 5:3 their children were of Adam’s likeness and image. This tells us that after the fall Adam and Eve acquired a new likeness, that of mortal man. Had Adam refused the “apple” he would have retained his immortality. He and Eve would have been of a different “likeness”. Had they been able to have children, the children would have been the product of cross breeding. There would have been no pure human race.

From Genesis 6 we learn that one of Satan’s early attempts to prevent a redeemer was to contaminate the human gene pool by having fallen angels assume human form and take human wives. This resulted in the Nephilim and by Noah’s time he and his family could have been the only ones  left who were both righteous in God’s sight and of pure human stock. (The Hebrew text of Genesis 6:9 indicates Noah was perfect in his generations, meaning his genealogy was without blemish, unimpaired.) That’s why only they were preserved through the flood.

From this we see that the coming redeemer had to be of pure human stock, someone an immortal Adam and a fallen Eve could not have produced.

Q. Since Adam who was “with her” (Genesis 3:6) while she ate, and then gave to him “and he did eat”, why did he not stop her from listening to the Serpent (let alone follow her in eating of the forbidden fruit) if he loved her so much?

A. First, let me thank you for pointing out that Adam was there with Eve during her temptation. Some have taught that the reason Eve sinned was that she was alone and not under her husband’s “covering” at the time. This teaching is refuted by by Genesis 3:6.

Now to your question. We don’t know why Adam reacted the way he did. But in Romans 5:14 Paul said Adam was “a pattern of the one to come”. This is a reference to the Lord. He didn’t come into the world to prevent us from sinning by depriving us of our right to choose for ourselves, but to save us from the penalty of the sins we commit by making the wrong choices. He did this by becoming like us. Adam’s behavior was consistent with the Lord’s, in that he became like Eve so she could be saved from the penalty of her sin. This is what makes him a pattern.

Q. In your scenario, Adam would have to have had foreknowledge of God’s plan of redemption. As a logical consequence of such foreknowledge,  Adam would  have to know that a fall from innocence was forthcoming. It also seems reasonable to conclude that Adam would share this information with Eve, yet the Bible states that Eve was deceived. What are your thoughts on this? Couldn’t God (all knowing and all powerful) have devised an alternate plan of redemption for the “Eve only” scenario?

A. Although events recorded in the Old Testament actually happened, they often unfolded in such a way that the Israelites were unknowingly acting out prophecies of the coming Redeemer. The manna in the wilderness (compare Exodus 16 with John 6:30-35) and the bronze serpent (compare Numbers 21:4-9 with John 3:14-15) are but two of many examples. They tell us Adam could have been a pattern of the Redeemer as Paul said in Romans 5:14 without knowing it. He could have simply been doing what he thought he had to do to avoid losing the woman he had grown to love.

Could God have devised other ways to meet the pressing needs of His people that didn’t involve having them act out prophecy? Of course. But one of the reasons we have the Old Testament is so we can learn more about His plan of redemption by seeing how He interacts with Israel. Paul said everything that was written in the past was written to teach us (Romans 15:4). He also said the things that happened to Israel were examples and were written down as warnings to us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come (1 Cor. 10:11). That’s why the Old Testament has been so accurately and carefully preserved.

And remember, God is teaching His creation that He’s absolutely just and absolutely loving. Starting over with Adam in some alternate plan of redemption would have left Eve twisting in the wind, the only human in history with no possibility of being saved.  God could not overlook her sin, and she would have had no kinsman to redeem her. That would neither be just nor loving.

In addition, Peter said the Lord was chosen before the creation of the world to be our Redeemer (1 Peter 1:20). That means God had already developed His plan for the Age of Man before He said “Let there be light” in Genesis 1:3. What God has determined is not subject to change. Aren’t you glad of that?

So then, seeing Adam as a pattern of the Redeemer has helped me better understand the events of Genesis 3. But I wish the Lord had chosen to tell us more about the life and times of our first parents. I guess I’ll have to learn about that directly from them. Selah 01-12-13.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:4-7).

New Years Resolutions

I’m not big on New Years resolutions, because most people break them almost immediately. The two most popular resolutions are also the two most frequently broken, often before the sun goes down on day one. If you guessed stop smoking and lose weight, you’re correct. One problem is that they’re both based on eliminating something and the mind can’t focus on the absence of a thing, only the benefits that the absence brings.

Much better to say, “Today I’m going to begin enjoying the benefits of being a non-smoker” and then make a list of them that you can read when the urge for a cigarette arises, to help you focus on the desired result.  You can think of losing weight as a weight adjustment and say, “I’m going to adjust my weight to 185 lbs.”  This will allow your mind to focus on the positive result of the resolution and begin to “see” a thinner you.

Another problem with New Year’s resolutions is that there’s nothing magical about the first day of the year.  Unless it’s accompanied by a sincere desire to achieve the resolution being set, the fact that you set it on New Year’s day isn’t going to make it any easier to achieve.  And if the desire for achievement is present, one day is as good as any other to begin.

That said, this year I recommend setting one resolution, and since it requires eliminating something, I’m going to include a positive replacement to help make it more likely to work. I think we should eliminate the words “luck” and “lucky” from our vocabulary, because I’m convinced there’s really no such thing. As an expert in the field of human behavior once reminded me, “Luck is simply the intersection of preparation and opportunity.” I see his point. For the one who’s unprepared, an opportunity could just as easily bring about disaster as benefit.  Since opportunities abound even today, the variable in the equation is preparation.

Blessed Are The Believers

And that brings me to the word that should replace luck in our vocabulary, and it’s blessed. Because that’s really what’s happening in the life of a person we call lucky. I think it’s about time we start attributing all the good things that happen in our life to their true Source. God is the Author of our victories (1 Cor. 15:57), the Giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17), and He loves to give good gifts to His children (Matt. 7:11). Remember what He had Moses tell the Israelites:

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. (Deut. 8:17-18)

“But what about things that just happen by chance?” you ask.  Attributing God’s blessings to chance denies His involvement in our lives, just as surely as adhering to the theory of evolution denies His involvement in the creation. In both instances chance is the rival conjecture, the substitute for God, and one definition of blasphemy is to credit the work of God to some other source.  We laugh at the ancients who attributed God’s work to the idols they carved out of wood and stone, and yet today many believers attribute some of His finest work to nothing but chance.  Whose is the greater sin?

Now What Do I Do?

If you’ve got your heart set on trying to live in a manner more pleasing to God this year, more power to you.  This world could use a few more people doing that.  A good place to start is to decide you’re going to become more aware of the blessings He brings you every day, and more diligent in thanking Him. He really goes for that. Once you become aware of the blessings you’re already receiving, you’ll be amazed at how many there are.  And when you become more thankful for them the blessings will increase exponentially.  As I said, the Lord loves to give good gifts to His children, and this is especially true when we show a little gratitude for receiving them.

And I’ll tell you what other good things will happen.  You’ll begin living a happier, more peaceful life, regardless of the situation you’re in.  More exciting too, because looking for God’s blessings makes every day a treasure hunt.   And now may you and yours enjoy a happy, peaceful, and blessed New Year. 12-29-12