I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered you, O God, and I groaned; I mused, and my spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night. My heart mused and my spirit inquired: “Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High.” I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed. The clouds poured down water, the skies resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Most people seem to have trouble transposing God’s faithfulness in past times to the present. “Sure He’s saved me before,” we think, “But how do I know he will this time? Maybe He’s tired of dragging my sorry self out of the fire. Maybe I’ve finally gone too far and He’s going to sit this one out to teach me a lesson.”

We think this way because we impute our motives to His behavior. Knowing we’re fed up with our behavior, we assume He is too, and that He’ll do to us what we’d do in His place. Not understanding the limitless reaches of His Grace, we think that each transgression of ours could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

In Matthew 18:21 Peter asked how many times we should forgive each other. “Up to seven times, Lord?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.” If that’s the standard for us, what do you suppose God’s standard is?

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23) This means that every morning God erases the past and we start with a clean slate. No matter how badly we missed the mark yesterday, today is a new beginning. And not just for a week or month or even a year, but for all our lives.

In ancient times a lamb was placed on the altar every morning to burn all day. This protected the Israelites from being struck down for the unintentional sins they committed during the day. At sundown a new lamb replaced the one that had burned all day. This one burned all night to protect them until morning. And so it went every morning and every evening. As long as there was a Temple and as long as the priests were faithful the people were OK. But since the protection was only retro-active and only covered unintentional sin they still had a tremendous exposure.

But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (Hebr. 10:12-14)

With the death of Jesus our protection extended both ways along the time line and included intentional sin as well. His one sacrifice has made us perfect forever in God’s sight, even as we are still being made Holy. The cross allows God to see us now as we will be after He’s made us immortal and incorruptible. All we have to do when we sin is confess and we are automatically forgiven. And more than that, our sins are immediately forgotten. We are purified from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Our Father loves us so much, He wanted every barrier to the full expression of His love for us torn down. Jesus accomplished that on the cross, except for one. The one remaining is the one we’ve erected. It’s made of pride and guilt and the false belief that His love for us is conditioned upon our performance. Only we can tear that one down. But once we do we can experience the full meaning of Lamentations 3:22-23. His compassions never fail. Not for seven times or even seventy times seven, they are new every morning.

The post Psalm 77 appeared first on Grace thru faith.

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

It didn’t take long for Nathan’s prophecy about my family to start coming true. Remember, the Lord had Nathan tell me that as a consequence of my sin with Bathsheba calamity would come out of my own household. My wives would be unfaithful with one close to me, and my own children would rise up against me.

My oldest son was Amnon, born of Ahinoam, my second wife after Michal. (Michal was the daughter of Saul, promised to me after I killed Goliath. The Lord made Michal barren when she criticized my dancing before the Ark of the Covenant so we didn’t have any children together.)

Amnon fell in love with his half sister Tamar, my beautiful young daughter whose mother was Maacah, a Princess of the nearby principality of Geshur. Maacah also bore me a son, Absalom, who would later become a powerful enemy and contender for my throne. (My first six sons all had different mothers.)

Amnon was so taken with Tamar that it became an obsession with him, and he lived in fear that because she was his half sister, Tamar could never be his. Finally this fear nearly drove him insane and in a terrible act of desperation he pretended to be ill, telling me that only bread fed to him from Tamar’s hand could relieve his suffering. Knowing nothing of his feelings, I sent Tamar to his house, to prepare some bread for him and feed him. When she got there He lured her into his bedroom and wrestled her onto the bed. As she struggled to get away, she begged him to ask me for permission to marry her so as not destroy her life, but he wouldn’t listen. Being the stronger of the two, he pinned her down and raped her.

After he had finished, he felt nothing but contempt for her and ordered his servants to get her out of his house. But the damage had been done. Both of their lives were ruined. A woman so defiled was of no value in Israel, even if she was a king’s daughter, and it became Absalom’s responsibility as her brother to avenge her by bringing Amnon to justice.

Two years later he did just that, but in doing so violated the law himself. The punishment for rape was to marry the victim, thereby assuming responsibility for her for the rest of her life. (Deut. 22:28-29) But instead of that, Absalom invited Amnon to a celebration he gave at the shearing of his sheep, where he had his men surround Amnon and kill him. Then he fled for refuge to Geshur, his mother’s home, staying there for three years. I was soon reconciled to the fact of Amnon’s death, after all he had committed a serious crime, and had ruined the life of his own sister. But though I longed to see Absalom, out of anger I didn’t send for him.

Finally General Joab cooked up a scheme with a woman from Tekoa, a town a few miles south of Bethlehem, to bring me to my senses. He had her tell me a fictional story about her two sons who got into a fight, one killing the other. According to the Law, a close relative of the dead son’s family had the right to take the life of the living son as his Avenger of Blood. But since this woman was a widow, if her remaining son was killed there would be no heir to her dead husband’s estate, causing her husband’s name to vanish from Israel and his estate to go to the first son’s in-laws. (Widows were not in the line of inheritance in those days.) This was something we always tried to prevent, because the Lord’s gift of land to each family was intended to be perpetual. I was also convinced that her dead son’s in-laws were motivated more by the lure of the inheritance than by the need for justice, so I assured her that I would grant amnesty to her remaining son so her husband’s name and estate could be preserved.

Then she sprang the trap on me, showing how my own words had convicted me. My refusal to reconcile with Absalom had created the same divided loyalties among my family, and this time the inheritance of the nation could be at stake.

When I accused her of conspiring with Joab to set me up she readily agreed, laughingly declaring that no one could pull the wool over my eyes because I had the wisdom of an angel of God. She was a flatterer all right. However manipulative she was, there was one thing she said I had to agree with. “God does not take life away,” she said, “Instead He devises a way so that banished people need not remain estranged from Him.”

Truer words were never spoken. Look how far He went so you and I would not remain estranged from Him. Centuries later the Apostle Paul would write, For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Jesus), and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:19-20) Having written Psalm 22, I knew how that was going to happen. If God would go this far for His children, couldn’t I agree to let my son come home? Talk about being convicted.

I had Joab send word to Absalom that it was safe for him to return to Israel, but that I wasn’t ready to see him yet. (I guess I wasn’t as forgiving as I thought I was.) In fact for two years after Absalom returned, we never spoke until one day Absalom had his servants set Joab’s grain field afire to finally get his attention and persuade him to intercede with me. Joab convinced me to see Absalom, and when I did we hugged and kissed as a father and son should.

Even though Absalom was the logical choice to succeed me as king, he knew that by killing his brother Amnon he had disqualified himself in my eyes. So he devised a clever scheme to undermine my authority, hoping to be appointed by the people to replace me. For four years he rode out to the edge of the city each day and as he spotted people coming to Jerusalem to petition the King for justice, he approached them.

“Tell me your problem,” he would say. When they did he would explain that he thought their position was just, and if the King had appointed him judge he would find in their favor. But sad to say, the King had appointed no one in Jerusalem to bring them justice, and if they continued into the city the King would not see them. In this way he soon became the most popular man in Israel while I fell from favor.

When he thought he was popular enough, he asked me for permission to go to Hebron to fulfill a vow, and of course I gave him my blessing. He took 200 men with him and while there got the people to proclaim him as King! Then he got my counselor (Bathsheba’s grandfather) Ahithophel to side with him. After that, his popularity grew even more quickly and many more followed him.

When I found out about this, I remembered Nathan’s prophecy and my heart melted in fear. I gathered all the forces loyal to me and fled from the city, leaving only 10 of my concubines behind to tend the palace. While running from Jerusalem I prayed that the Lord would turn Ahithophel’s advice to folly.

When Absalom arrived at the palace, his counselors advised him to have sex with all 10 of my concubines in the sight of the people to demonstrate his power and to anger me. (As I’ve said earlier, a person having sex with a king’s concubine was saying that he intended to overthrow the king.) They set up a special tent in the city and brought the women out to him. Another of Nathan’s prophecies fulfilled! I didn’t become angry with Absalom because I had known this was going to happen as a consequence of my adultery with Bathsheba. As soon as he could, Absalom amassed a huge army from all over Israel and led them out to attack my forces as Ahithophel had advised, but the Lord showed us favor and we defeated them. Ahithophel’s advice on the battle’s strategy had been wrong as I prayed it would be.

When my men reported that they had sighted Absalom, I ordered them to be lenient with him when they caught him. He had a full head of thick curly hair. It was his pride and joy and he spent a lot of time making it look just right. While trying to escape through a forested area his beautiful hair became entangled in a low tree branch. His momentum bent the branch like a bow and when it snapped back he was yanked clean off his mount. My men were close behind and found him hanging by his hair in the tree with his feet off the ground and his arms flailing uselessly. In other circumstances it would have been almost comical, but here it turned out to be his downfall. Joab ran a javelin through his heart and the men finished killing him as he hung there.

I knew in my heart that it was my sin that had started this contention in my family, and I was therefore responsible for Absalom’s death. Counting Bathsheba’s baby, three of my sons were now dead because of it. My heart was heavy. Why couldn’t it have been me who died instead of him?

But what was done was done, and my job now was to put the nation back together, and regain the trust of those who had sided against me. As soon as they heard that Absalom was dead, many of them came out to the Jordan River to greet me and cross over into Israel with me, and their apologies were profuse and heart felt. They remembered that I was the one who had saved them from the Philistines and other enemies, and realized that I should be their King after all.

Unfortunately theirs was not a unanimous opinion among my detractors, and even before I could get back to Jerusalem there would be another revolt to put down. We’ll talk about that one next time. 05-26-05

The post David’s Story: Part 9, 2 Samuel 13-19 appeared first on Grace thru faith.

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

The Lord gave us many victories against our traditional enemies and soon we had subdued them all. Not only the Philistines, but the Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, and the Arameans became subject to Israel. Our kingdom finally extended all the way from the Euphrates in the North to Egypt in the south, just as God had promised Abraham. My son Solomon would extend it even farther building with diplomacy on the conquests I had made through warfare.

One day I asked my advisors if there was anyone left of Jonathon’s family to whom I could show kindness for Jonathon’s sake. He and I had entered into a covenant relationship some time earlier that among other things obligated us to look after each other’s families in the event one of us died. Jonathon had died with his father in the battle of Beth Shean.

They brought in one of Saul’s former servants who told me of a crippled boy named Mephibosheth. He was Jonathon’s son, living in a place called Lo Debar. When I became King of Israel, all of Saul’s family had fled for their lives for fear that I would take revenge on them for the way Saul had mistreated me. In their haste to escape, his nurse had picked up the 5 year old Mephibosheth to carry him, but they had fallen on the stone floor. The nurse landed on him, breaking both his legs, and crippling him for life. (2 Sam. 4:4) As he grew up his family had convinced Mephibosheth that I was responsible for his condition and still wanted to kill him.

Upon learning Mephibosheth’s whereabouts, I sent soldiers to fetch him. When they brought him into my presence, Mephibosheth, fearing for his life, asked if I was going to kill him now. I reassured him that I would do no such thing and told him of the covenant I had with his father Jonathon. Then I forgave him for hating me all his life, restored to him all of his grandfather Saul’s property and gave him servants to work the land so his needs would always be met. Finally I asked him to come live in Jerusalem, and eat at the King’s table just like one of my own sons. Mephibosheth agreed.

This is one of the Old Testament’s actual events that also serve as a model for what our Lord has done for us. You see, the covenant I made with Jonathon is symbolic of another one. Just put me into the role of the Father and let Jonathon represent the Son and you’ll understand what I mean.

Before the beginning of time The Father and The Son entered into an agreement called the Everlasting Covenant and these are its provisions. After the Son’s death the Father would seek us out and offer to forgive us for hating Him, restore our inheritance, and bring us into His presence to eat at His table as one of His children, so we’d never again have to fear for our lives or worry about our survival. All we would have to do is agree.

Like Mephibosheth, we didn’t understand these provisions, so while God pursued us we ran for our lives just like he did. We too had heard the stories of God’s wrath and had been told that He was responsible for our infirmities. Finally one day He caught us and as we trembled at His feet in fear of our lives, He told us of the covenant, and of the kindness He wanted to show us for the sake of His Son.

“My Son died for you,” He said, “And now I want to forgive you. And when I do, all your past, present and future sins and the shame and guilt that go with them will be wiped away. All you have to do is agree.”

When we do our inheritance is restored, we’re set forever, and we sit at the King’s table as one of His children. Just like Mephibosheth. By the way, in one of those fascinating twists the Bible is full of, Mephibosheth’s name means, “to cast away shame.” That’s exactly what the Lord’s death has done for us.

When Nahash, the King of Ammon died, I sent a delegation to express my condolences. His son Hanun had succeeded him and his advisors convinced him that my delegation was really there to spy on them. Hanun had half their beards cut off and the backs of their robes cut out, leaving them exposed. Then he sent them back to Israel. This was meant to humiliate them and it did. It also upset me.

Hanun heard that I was upset and hired 20,000 mercenaries from Aram to help him stand against the attack that he knew was coming. The Lord was with us and even though Hanun hired still more Arameans, my General, Joab, defeated his armies, punishing the Arameans so badly that they refused to help Hanun any more.

The next spring I sent Joab against the Ammonites again. (You know these people as the Jordanians.) I stayed behind in Jerusalem and one night as I was gazing out over the city I saw the most beautiful woman I could ever imagine, bathing on her rooftop. I found out that her name was Bathsheba, the wife of Urriah the Hittite, one of my soldiers. It didn’t matter to me. I knew immediately that I had to have her. This wasn’t just some arrogant King taking someone’s wife because he could. This was a man willing to risk everything for the love of a woman he couldn’t live without. I sent for her and immediately we fell into each other’s arms. It was a night I’ll never forget.

Shortly thereafter she sent word that she was pregnant. In a panic I summoned her husband, thinking that if he came home for a day or two it would appear that the baby was his. But he refused to take comfort in his wife’s arms while his comrades were out in the battle lines. So I sent him back and arranged with his commanders to place him at the most dangerous part of the battle and then abandon him so the enemy soldiers would kill him. They did and Urriah was killed. After a suitable mourning period, Bathsheba and I were married.

As you might expect, this upset the Lord greatly, and He told me that He had already made me King over all of Israel, with all the wives and concubines I wanted and if that wasn’t enough He would have given me anything else my heart desired. Why did I have to do this terrible thing, and embarrass Him so?

Out of the incomparable riches of His grace, He forgave me. There would be consequences, however. Bathsheba’s baby, our son, would die. And out of my own household, calamity would come. My wives would be unfaithful with one close to me, and my own children would rise up against me.

The evil effects of sin were all too obvious. Adultery had led to an attempted cover-up, which led to lies that culminated in murder. What a tangled web we weave. A good man was dead, and the Lord Whom I love beyond all else was embarrassed and offended by my behavior.

Our son died soon thereafter, going peacefully to be with the Lord. I reconciled myself to that, knowing I’d see him again in the Lord’s Kingdom. I mourned with Bathsheba, consoling her on the loss we had brought upon ourselves. In His mercy the Lord allowed her to conceive again and bring forth Solomon, Israel’s next and perhaps greatest King.

But I was just beginning to pay the price for my ingratitude. Before it was over, I would walk up to the Ark of the Covenant and place my hand upon it, expecting to be struck dead. It was during this time that I wrote Psalm 51, acknowledging my sin and begging God to forgive me and restore to me the joy of my salvation.

He saw my broken spirit and contrite heart and forgave me, just as he will with any sin you commit, no matter how big. There’s nothing you can do that’s stronger than His love; He already gave His life to set you free. Demonstrate genuine remorse, ask for forgiveness and almost before you’re finished you’ll feel the weight of your guilt being lifted off you. I know. I’ve been there.

Meanwhile Joab was busy defeating the Ammonites. When he had captured the royal citadel, he sent word to me so I could bring the rest of the army and officially preside over the final defeat of the Ammonites. Joab took the royal crown from the head of Molech, their chief idol, and placed it upon my head. It was made of solid gold, weighed nearly 100 pounds, and was encrusted with all kinds of precious gems. We took much spoil from the Ammonites that day, and consigned all their people to labor for Israel. Their whole country was made subject to us because a young, arrogant king sought to embarrass me by humiliating my officials.

The Lord used this event to compare the fate of Hanun, King of Ammon, at my hands with my fate at the hands of the Living God. I had embarrassed the Lord even more than Hanun had embarrassed me, and the Lord was well within His rights to tear my Kingdom away from me and place its crown on someone else’s head just as I had done to Hanun. But His mercies are new every morning, and reading the anguish of my heart, He forgave me. Then He did something that’s almost impossible for us humans. He forgot all about it. While that didn’t relieve me of the earthly consequences of my behavior, it did show me that our relationship hadn’t changed. I was still His man for Israel, and He was still my God.

Over and over the Bible demonstrates that God’s relationship with us isn’t based on our worthiness, but His faithfulness. When Adam sinned in the Garden, God didn’t abandon him, but made provisions for his redemption. When Abraham took matters into his own hands to bring forth the son God had promised him, God blessed Ishmael and still provided Isaac, the promised one. When Moses died after disobeying God and disqualifying himself from leading His people into the Promised Land, God Himself buried his body and carried him into heaven. When Peter denied the Lord three times on the night of His betrayal, the Lord restored him and gave him responsibility for the entire church.

When you stumble and fall after making your commitment to the Lord, He’ll pick you up, dust you off and set you on the path again, even carrying you for a time if need be. And like the rest of us, you’ll discover His attitude toward you has changed not a bit. You’re still His child and He’s still your God. 05-22-05

The post David’s Story, Part 8 , 2 Samuel 8-12 appeared first on Grace thru faith.

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

My first order of business after becoming King was to begin capturing portions of the Promised Land that had either never been claimed or else had been lost in battle. Several hundred years had passed and it was long past time to complete the work of conquest begun by Joshua.

When the Philistines heard about this they massed a large army against me. In his defeat at Beth Shean, Saul had lost much of the northern part of the country, and the conquering Philistines didn’t want me to get it back. They figured a pre-emptive attack would be their best defense. They soon gathered for battle in the Valley of Rephaim, so I inquired of the Lord and He said “Go get ’em.” We did and defeated them soundly.

When they re-grouped and assembled in the valley a second time, the Lord told me to circle around behind them and wait. Then He started the battle Himself. I don’t know what He did but it sure scared the you-know-what out of them. They dropped everything, including their precious idols and took off running. We chased them all the way back to Gezer. Then we burned all their idols. This time they didn’t come back for more.

The Walled City of the Jebusites, which we call Jerusalem, was a formidable obstacle, but with the Lord’s blessing, we conquered it. I moved into the Fortress of Zion there and after enlarging and re-fortifying it I named it the City of David. Today the City of David is a small suburb south of the Temple mount in a vastly expanded Jerusalem, but the name Zion has stuck with us and refers to all of Jerusalem, and in some circles all of Israel.

Once these areas were captured and secured I received a delegation from Hiram, King of Tyre. He wanted to build a palace for me, the first sign of international recognition of my kingship. It made sense for him to offer this. We had two things he needed. First was the inland route south to Egypt and beyond. It came right through Israel, and he needed to be certain it would always be open to his merchants. And second, much of the food consumed by the Phoenicians came from northern Israel. Without it they would starve. Phoenicia was a very narrow strip of land bordering on the Mediterranean and didn’t have room for fields to grow the food their people needed.

For those two reasons their survival depended on friendly relations with their southern neighbor, and indeed from my time all the way to the Babylonian captivity 400 years later Israel and Phoenicia were best of friends. Of course, you know Phoenicia today as Lebanon, and sadly things are much different now.

King Hiram sent select logs of cedar (for which Lebanon is famous) and stonemasons and carpenters who built a fine palace for me. In my time a king’s residence was the primary symbol of the legitimacy of his rule, so I took this gift as a sign from the Lord that He had blessed my ascension to the Throne of Israel.

When the palace was ready, I relocated to Jerusalem from Hebron and soon took more concubines and wives. My family grew to quickly fill our spacious new quarters.

Once I was settled in, I decided to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem as well. Remember, the Tabernacle had been moved to Nob after the Philistines defeated Saul at Shiloh and stole the Ark. The problems they encountered with this stolen symbol of our Lord’s power caused them to return it quickly, but Saul had left it in the care of a Levite named Abinadab in Kiraith Jearim, a town in the territory of Benjamin which was just north of Jerusalem.

I had a new wagon built, took some men, and set out to bring it to Jerusalem. It seemed like all of Israel joined in behind us, singing and dancing while playing their musical instruments. Coming down a hill, the oxen pulling the cart stumbled and Uzzah, one of the men guiding the Ark instinctively reached out to steady it. He was immediately struck dead. Only certain members of the family of Levi were permitted to touch it and Uzzah wasn’t one of them.

This scared me so much I left the Ark there in the home of Obed-Edom and refused to bring it into Jerusalem. There it sat for three months while I tried to figure out what had happened. Maybe I was trying to do something the Lord was against.

Finally when they told me how Obed-Edom’s house and family had been blessed by having the Ark there, I decided it was OK to bring it to Jerusalem. This time I did it right. I had men who were authorized to touch the Ark carry it. When they had taken six steps, I stopped them and we sacrificed a bull and a calf. Then we proceeded, with all the people shouting and trumpets blaring. I danced with all my might at the head of the procession.

We arrived safely and I placed the Ark in a tent I had specially made to house it. Again we sacrificed to the Lord, both burnt and fellowship offerings. I blessed the people in the Name of the Lord and distributed a loaf of bread, and cakes of dates and raisins to each person there.

After the celebration my first wife Michal scolded me angrily. She said my dancing was vulgar and embarrassing since I was wearing only a linen ephod, normally an undergarment. She said I had made a fool of myself in front of all the servant girls, exposing myself this way.

I said I was dancing for the Lord and would be willing to humiliate myself even more if that’s what it took to please Him. Her outburst must have angered the Lord, because He made her barren from that day forward.

Sometime later, after I had settled in and the Lord had given us peace with all our neighboring countries, it bothered me that I was living in a fine palace of cedar, while the Ark of the Lord rested in a mere tent. I spoke to the Prophet Nathan about this and that very night the Lord answered me through Him.

He said, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ ”

“Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you.

“Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.

” ‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’ ”

As the Lord had commanded, Nathan repeated all of this to me.

Then I went in and sat before the LORD in the tent of His Ark, and said, “Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD?

“What more can I say to you? For you know your servant, O Sovereign LORD. For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.

“How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, O LORD, have become their God.

“And now, LORD God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, so that your name will be great forever. Then men will say, ‘The LORD Almighty is God over Israel!’ And the house of your servant David will be established before you.

“O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you.’ So your servant has found courage to offer you this prayer. O Sovereign LORD, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant. Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, O Sovereign LORD, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.”

I couldn’t believe it! I had asked to build Him a house and instead He had promised to build up my house. From this time forth every King of Israel would be descended from me. His promises would be partially fulfilled through my son Solomon, the next King of Israel, who would build the Lord’s Temple on Earth. But the ultimate fulfillment would come when God’s own Son would come to Earth to rule not only the Nation Israel but the entire world as well. And His kingdom would never end, nor would it be given to another. Our God is an awesome God! 05-07-05

The post David’s Story Part 7 – 2 Samuel 5-7 appeared first on Grace thru faith.

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

I was in Ziklag when I learned of Saul’s death. An Amalekite who had been there at the battle brought me Saul’s crown and said that he had killed the King. According the Amalekite, Saul had been gravely wounded and the Philistines were racing toward him to finish the job and desecrate his body. Saul asked the Amalekite to kill him before the Philistines got there. He did so and then took Saul’s crown and brought it to me thinking I’d reward him. I could tell he was lying and asked why he wasn’t afraid to raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed. He was astonished and before he could answer I ordered one of my men to kill him. The liar was trying to get a reward for stealing a dead king’s crown.

I composed a song to the memory of Saul and Jonathon and sang it aloud as we mourned their deaths. Later I had all the men of Judah learn the song, but first I waited for word from the Lord that I should return to Israel. Even in the vacuum of leadership created by Saul’s death, I thought it best to wait for the Lord’s timing, and it turned out to be a good thing I did. I was going to need all the help I could get.

When He gave us the OK, I took my men to the region of Hebron and we settled in the towns there. The leaders of Judah visited me and anointed me as their King. But Abner, who had been Saul’s commander in chief, anointed Saul’s son Ish-bosheth as King of Israel. For the next seven and 1/2 years the nation had two kings, one for Judah and one for the rest, while intense conflict arose between my men and the men still loyal to Saul, now led by Abner.

One of my commanders was named Joab, and one day his brother Asahel took off after Abner chasing him half was across Israel. Repeatedly Abner pleaded with him to turn back, reminding him that their families were acquainted, but Asahel wouldn’t stop, so finally Abner turned and killed him to prevent being killed himself.

Sometime later Ish-bosheth accused Abner of sleeping with one of Saul’s former concubines. This was a big no-no. Sleeping with a dead king’s concubine was a signal that you were trying to assume his power. Ish-bosheth was worried that Abner had designs on his throne.

Abner was so incensed by this affront to his loyalty that he set out to persuade all the leaders of Israel to switch their allegiance to me. And that’s just what he did! He came to me in Hebron with assurances that all Israel was ready to make me their King. I sent him back to arrange a meeting with the leaders of Israel to formalize their desires.

Just after Abner left, Joab returned with some men he had led on a raid. Hearing that Abner had just been there, he was enraged and sent messengers to bring him back. Because I had sent Abner away in peace, he agreed to come back. Upon his return Joab asked to speak privately with him outside the city gates. As soon as they were alone, Joab drew his knife and stabbed Abner in the stomach, killing him. Joab was his brother Asahel’s Avenger of Blood.

This requires some explanation. In those days there was no police force and the court system was much different. In case someone was killed in a fight, the dead person’s eldest brother was authorized, in fact obligated, to hunt the killer down and take his life to avenge the deceased. He was called the Avenger of Blood. But the Lord knew that sometimes a person’s death would really be accidental (today you call this involuntary manslaughter) or a matter of self-defense, and that the next of kin couldn’t be expected to make an impartial judgment in such a case.

So He had Moses designate 6 Cities of Refuge where a man who had killed someone under these circumstances could flee for protection from the Avenger of Blood. Once there he could plead his case before the elders and if they judged him innocent, he would be protected as long as he remained within the city walls until the death of the current High Priest. At that time he was free to go, off limits to the Avenger of Blood. Three of these cities were in the North and three were in the South. Hebron, where we were, was one of the cities in the South. (Deut. 19:1-13)

These Cities of Refuge make an interesting, if imperfect, model of the Messiah. We were all guilty of capital crimes (sin) and hotly pursued by one who was intent upon taking our lives (Satan). When we fled to Jesus for protection, He gave us refuge. Since Jesus is also our High Priest, His death set us free. We’re off limits to Satan.

Why is the model imperfect? To gain refuge, the accused had to get to the City of Refuge before the Avenger of Blood caught him. Jesus meets you where you are, the moment you call upon Him. Also, a person had to be innocent to receive protection in a City of Refuge, but Jesus protects the guilty. And finally, if a person ventured outside the city during the life of the High Priest, he was fair game for the Avenger of Blood. Once you’re in Christ, the Holy Spirit is sealed within you and you’re under His protection forever, no matter where you are. (Ephe. 1:13-14) He is our true City of Refuge.

When I sent Abner away in peace after he promised me the allegiance of all of Israel’s leaders, he apparently believed I had relieved him of responsibility for Asahel’s death and therefore saw no danger in leaving the city with Joab. But by luring him outside the city walls, Joab made him fair game under the law and killed him to avenge his brother. I put a curse on Joab’s house because he took advantage of a technicality in the law to kill Abner, and because he endangered me politically just as all the leaders of Israel were ready to get behind me.

Since Abner was such a prominent figure among Saul’s followers, I had to take immediate action to avoid being accused of having him killed for political gain. I publicly disavowed any participation in Abner’s death. I immediately went into mourning and had all my men do the same. I composed a lament in Abner’s memory. And I arranged for him to be buried in Hebron, personally led the funeral procession, and fasted all day on the day of his funeral. The people could see my sincerity and the Lord caused them to be favorably disposed toward me.

With Abner’s death the entire remaining House of Saul went into a panic. They were convinced that I would have them all killed. Even Saul’s son Ish-bosheth, whom Abner had anointed as King, was afraid. Everyone knew that Abner was the real power and with him dead, they feared for their own lives. When the family fled into hiding, Jonathon’s young son Mephibosheth was injured and became permanently crippled. Incredibly, two of Saul’s followers crept into Ish-bosheth’s house while he was sleeping and murdered him in his own bed. They cut off his head and brought it to me, thinking to earn my favor for eliminating a rival to the throne. As I had done with the Amalekite who said he had killed Saul, I had them put to death.

Finally, as Abner had promised, the leaders of all the twelve tribes came to me in Hebron and pledged their allegiance to me. I made a compact with them and was anointed King over all Israel. I was thirty years old and would reign a total of forty years, the seven and a half just past when I was King of Judah, and the thirty-three now beginning as King of Israel. There’s lots more to come so stay tuned. 05-01-05

The post David’s Story Part 6 – 2 Samuel 1-4 appeared first on Grace thru faith.

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

Saul was relentless, hounding us day and night. Being constantly on the run finally wore me down to a point where I guess I just lost faith in the Lord’s willingness to rescue us.
(Looking back I realize I had forgotten three critical promises the Lord makes to each of us. They’re all found in Psalm 34. The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.)

In desperation I finally turned to Israel’s enemy, the Philistines, thinking that if we hid there Saul wouldn’t pursue us. I went to Achish, King of Gath, asking for refuge for my men and me, and he granted it. This strategy worked, for when Saul heard I was in Gath he stopped chasing me. After a while I asked Achish for permission to leave the Royal City and settle in a small town in the south country and he did me one better. He gave me the village of Ziklag and we settled there. Ziklag had once belonged to the tribe of Simeon, whose lands bordered on Philistia, but had been captured by the warriors of Gath. For the next year and four months we lived the life of bandits, raiding the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites, nomadic people who lived in the deserts south of Israel on the way to Egypt.

We didn’t leave any survivors behind on our raids, taking only their livestock as plunder. I didn’t want Achish to find out what we were up to, and dead men tell no tales. I justified this because these people were ancient enemies of Israel who had tried to prevent Moses from bringing our people into the Promised Land. God had sworn to erase the Amalakites from the face of the Earth for this and actually it was Sauls’ failure to take full vengeance on them that got him into such trouble with the Lord. To prevent Achish from discovering what we were really doing, I told him we were raiding Jewish settlements.

In accepting sanctuary from Achish, I had to agree to help him in case of war, so when the Philistines gathered up a large army to go against Israel, Achish reminded me that my men and I were obligated to fight at his side, even making me his personal bodyguard.

When we camped near where the Israelite army had assembled, Saul became overcome with terror at the sight of the Philistines. He wanted to know what the battle’s outcome would be so he asked the prophets to pray and the priest to consult the Lord through the Urim and Thummim. Then he asked the Lord to show him in a dream. Receiving no answer from any of these sources he panicked, and violating his own decree as well as God’s Law, asked for a medium to help him see what was coming. (After Samuel’s death, Saul had expelled all the mediums and soothsayers from Israel, making their profession illegal.) His advisors directed him to one in the nearby town of Endor, but suggested he disguise himself to avoid scaring her off. Wearing someone else’s clothes, he and two of his men visited her that night.

This woman, known to all as the Witch of Endor, soon recognized Saul and accused him of trying to trick her into revealing her illegal activities so he could punish her. Convincing her that he meant her no harm, Saul asked her to contact the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel. She did, and then became the medium through whom Samuel spoke to Saul.
Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”

“I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”

Samuel said, “Why do you consult me, now that the LORD has turned away from you and become your enemy? The LORD has done what he predicted through me. The LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors-to David. Because you did not obey the LORD or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the LORD has done this to you today. The LORD will hand over both Israel and you to the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also hand over the army of Israel to the Philistines.”

Needless to say, Saul was devastated by this news. Knowing in his heart that what Samuel said was true, he realized that by consulting a medium he had broken the Law, (Deut. 18:9-13) and in disobeying God again had sealed his fate and that of his sons and his army.

(Here’s a little food for thought for all you modern day believers. God wouldn’t have prohibited things like this unless they were real, and dangerous. For example, there’s no prohibition in the Bible against turning green because God knows it’s impossible to do so. But it’s obvious from the text that this wasn’t some parlor stunt designed to bilk Saul out of his money. This was a real event. Consulting the dead through a medium, or channeler as you call them, was forbidden because it opens doors to evil forces that mean harm to God’s people. It’s a good idea to periodically review all the things God has forbidden and to look for signs of them in your life to be sure you’re not unknowingly endangering yourself.

Also, as a New Testament Christian, you might be puzzled at the way God seems to have abandoned Saul here. Let me remind you that in my day the Holy Spirit could come upon a person, and even abide with him, but was never sealed within any of us. That didn’t happen till after the cross.

When Saul disobeyed God by not completely destroying the Amalekites, God withdrew His Spirit from him. The resulting spiritual vacuum in Saul’s life attracted the evil spirits who then afflicted him. Today he would be diagnosed as insane. By continuing in his state of disobedience, Saul cut himself off from God’s wisdom and His guidance and was fair game for the evil spirits who eventually destroyed him.

While your un-confessed sin will interrupt your fellowship with God, the Holy Spirit can’t be withdrawn from you. And while evil forces can oppress out-of-fellowship believers within limits established by God for the purposes of instruction and restoration, you can’t be possessed by them the way Saul was. See 1 Corinth. 5:1-5 and 2 Corinth. 2:5-11)

Meanwhile, I was in a little trouble of my own. Even though I had won Achish’s trust, the other Philistine commanders weren’t so sure. They didn’t like seeing these Hebrews in their ranks, and knowing my reputation, they were afraid I’d turn against them in battle and help swing the tide toward Israel. They demanded I take my men and leave, so at sunrise the next morning that’s what we did.

Three days later, as we approached our homes at Ziklag, we saw the smoke rising into the clear morning air. While we were away, the Amalekites had attacked our village, taken our women and children captive, and burned down our houses. As you might expect, the men were enraged about this turn of events, but even though my family was among the captives, I found strength in the Lord and kept my wits about me. I asked the priest for God’s direction, and was told to pursue the Amalekites, that we would be successful in retrieving our loved ones and property. We left immediately and on the way found a sick slave they’d left behind to die. After we revived him with food and drink and promised to spare his life, he led us to their camp.

Once there, we attacked them immediately, fighting non-stop till the evening of the next day. When it was over we had defeated them soundly. Amazingly we got all our women and children back unharmed, plus every bit of the plunder they had taken from us. Nothing was missing!

Before leaving for home, we rounded up the Amalekites’ herds and flocks and took them as spoil. I sent a portion of our gain to each of the regional leaders of the Israelites as a sign of my fidelity to them. I didn’t want to chance that someone might have seen me among the Philistine troops and gotten the wrong idea.

Soon the word came back to us that when the Philistines engaged the Israelites a fierce battle ensued from which the Philistines emerged victorious. Moreover Saul’s three sons were killed and Saul himself had died, just as Samuel had foretold. After being seriously wounded, Saul had fallen on his sword to avoid being taken captive. The Philistines located his body, cut off his head and nailed his body and those of his sons to the gates of Beth Shan.

Two lessons emerge from this story. The first is that when I took matters into my own hands and fled to Philistia, I got temporary relief from Saul but made no progress at all in my walk with God. In fact I slipped the wrong way, living a deceitful life and resorting to the ways of this world for my sustenance. It wasn’t till I submitted myself fully to the Lord again that I became victorious and had everything restored to me.

The second is found in the contrast between Saul and me as we each prepared for battle. Because of his un-confessed sin of disobedience he was out of fellowship, and though he sought the Lord he got no answer. Instead of confessing so he could receive forgiveness and be restored, he allowed his emotions to control his behavior and turned to forbidden means, sealing his fate. His family was destroyed, his battle lost, his reign as Israel’s king over, and his life ended.

When My men and I returned from the battle lines to find our houses burned and our families captured, I stayed calm, immediately sent for the priest, and inquired of the Lord. Being in fellowship, I received an answer; victory was assured. My family was restored unharmed, my battle won, and my life as the King of Israel was just beginning. More to come. 4-10-05

The post David’s Story Part 5 – 1 Samuel 27-30 appeared first on Grace thru faith.

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

This was the lowest period of my life. Saul was hunting me without reason and had just killed 85 priests simply because one of them had showed kindness to me. I was a fugitive in the very country where I was supposed to become King! The one good thing is that the Lord was drawing me closer, and I found myself seeking His direction constantly. I wrote Psalm 27 to recall my feelings then.

I heard that the Philistines were harassing the people at Keliah and looting their threshing floors, so I asked the Lord if we should attack them. When the answer came back yes, I got the men together, but they expressed concern about going. I asked the Lord again and He again told me to go, saying He had given the Philistines into our hands. So we went and were victorious, just as the Lord had promised.

But Saul found out we were there and immediately came after us. He thought he saw a great opportunity. Keliah is a gated, walled city and he figured he could trap us inside and finish us off like sitting ducks. When I heard he was coming, I inquired of the Lord again. He told me to get my men out of there because the people of Keliah were going to betray us even though we had just saved them! I couldn’t win for losing.

But while it seemed that men constantly betrayed us, we still had the Lord on our side, and He is always faithful. Since we had honored Him by obeying His command to go, He wasn’t going to dishonor us by letting Saul capture us. We left immediately and escaped into the surrounding hills.

Saul was never far behind. One time we were on one side of a mountain while he and his army were on the other side. They would have caught us that day if the Philistines hadn’t attacked a village in the area, diverting Saul’s army from chasing us. Later I saw this as one of many examples in my life of a promise the Apostle Paul would one day make for you in yours: God is working everything together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28).

We hid out for a time in En Gedi. It’s a lush oasis in the desert just west of the Dead Sea. Today there’s a Nature Reserve there where you can hike up a narrow canyon beside a flowing stream. At the top there’s a waterfall that looks like it’s coming right out of the sky to form a beautiful pool with greenery all around. It’s a natural fortress and a refuge and it served me well. Later, when I wrote Psalm 32, I remembered En Gedi as my hiding place where the Lord filled my heart with songs of deliverance.

One day we were hiding in the back of a deep cave there when who should walk in but King Saul himself. He was looking for a cool place to take a nap and didn’t know we were there. While he slept my men tried to convince me to kill him, but I refused. I stole up to him and cut off a corner of his robe instead.

After he got up and left I went after him and shouted for him to stop. When he did, I showed him the corner of his robe and told him I could have killed him but didn’t out of respect for him and his position. I said I had never done anything against him, nor would I, so why was he after me? “Who are you hunting,” I said, “A dead dog … or a flea?” (A dead dog is helpless against attack and a flea is so insignificant as to be of no consequence.)

Saul admitted I was right and thanked me for not killing him. He said he knew I would be king of Israel some day, and asked me to promise not to harm his family when that happened. I promised.

That day the Lord showed me that opportunity does not equal mandate. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean it’s the Lord’s will that you should. For me to have killed Saul in his sleep would have taken events out of God’s hands and destroyed my chances to maintain the moral high ground in my ongoing dispute with Saul. I believed that when the Lord decided to take Saul out, He would do so in a way that wouldn’t cloud my integrity, and until then even though Saul was determined to kill me, he was still my King and deserved my respect. Over 1000 years later, the Lord’s brother would say the same thing about Satan. (Jude 8-9)

My encounter with Nabal was a different matter entirely. Here was a man whose very name meant fool. How he wound up married to a woman like Abigail is anybody’s guess. He was a rich man with huge flocks and herds so maybe that’s what made him attractive. After voluntarily protecting him, his family, and his herds from the Philistines for some time, I sent 10 men to see if he would return the favor by giving us something to eat, since we were out of food. He turned them down flat, insulting me in the process.

“Well,” I declared, “Nobody treats me like that. Especially after all we’ve done for him.” I told the men to buckle on their swords and we set out to have a little “chat” with Nabal, thinking to make an example of him for repaying good with evil. I took 400 men with me and left 200 behind to guard our camp.

When his wife Abigail heard what Nabal had done, she knew right away what a huge mistake he had made, and what the likely consequences would be. Hurrying to gather up a large amount of food, she loaded several donkeys and set out to intercept us.

When she saw us coming she dismounted and bowed low before me. She told me she knew what her husband had done, and took complete responsibility for it herself. She asked me to please accept the food she had brought and forgive her husband for his foolishness. He was just living up to his name.

Then she said that she knew God was with me and would build me up into a lasting dynasty because I was fighting His battles. “Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live,” she admonished me. “When the Lord has given you all the good things He’s promised, you don’t want to have on your conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged yourself. It’s best to leave these things in the Lord’s hands.”

Abigail was a sensitive, intelligent woman and her whole demeanor touched me deeply. I thanked her sincerely for her sound advice and for helping me avoid what would have been a terrible mistake. Then I accepted the food she had brought us and sent her home in peace.

When Abigail got home her husband was in the middle of a drunken party so it was the next morning before she told him what she’d done for us. He had a heart attack right on the spot and 10 days later was dead.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been stopped before taking matters into your own hands, but I’ll bet there’s been more than one occasion in your life when you haven’t been, and have charged ahead on your own only to make a terrible fool of yourself. I had almost done the same thing myself.

“Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord, “It is mine to repay.” (Hebr. 10:30) Again I learned the wisdom of separating opportunity from mandate. Had Abigail not warned me off, I would have deprived the Lord of a golden opportunity to show His favor toward me in the sight of those around me. I sent for the newly widowed Abigail and asked her to marry me, and she agreed.

Much later, the Apostle Paul would confirm the Lord’s desire that His people live in peace to whatever extent possible, and not to take revenge but leave room for God’s wrath (Romans 12:18-19). It’s so important for us to remember that the Lord has already marked our enemies for defeat, so the victory is ours. We need only live up to that which we’ve already attained (Phil. 3:16) by showing them the same mercy and grace He has shown us. (Romans 12:20-21)

Shortly after the episode with Nabal and Abigail, My men and I were staying in the Desert of Ziph, south of Hebron. Someone from there reported this to Saul, who immediately gathered 3000 men to hunt us down. He camped near the road to Jeshimon so we stayed out in the desert.

One night I spied on Saul’s camp from a nearby hillside and located the place in the center of camp where he and Abner, his commander in chief, were sleeping. I hurried back to our camp and got Abishal to join me. Together we crept into Saul’s camp right up to where he and Abner lay sound asleep. Abishal wanted to kill Saul but again I refused, telling him to steal Saul’s spear and a water jug, both of which had been placed right near Saul’s head. I told Ashibal that Saul’s life was in the Lord’s hands, to either end early or not as He saw fit.

We took the spear and water bottle and slipped away up the hill above the camp. The Lord had kept Saul and his men asleep while we were in their camp, but now I hollered out to Abner and woke him up, chiding him for not protecting the king. As proof of my accusation I told Abner to look around for the king’s spear and water bottle.

By now Saul was awake too, and again I told him I could have killed him and didn’t, out of respect for the Lord’s anointed. Again I asked why he was after me, and again he thanked me for sparing him and admitted that his hunt for me was a mistake. He asked me to join him in the camp, but I refused, knowing it was a trick to try and capture me. Instead I had him send a messenger up to retrieve his spear as final proof that I could have killed him.

“The Lord delivered you into my hands today, but I would not harm His anointed,” I said. “As surely as I valued your life today, so may the Lord value my life and deliver me from all trouble.”

Then Saul blessed me, predicted I would do great things and we went our separate ways. Psalm 54 is my tribute to the Lord for protecting me there.

These three events contained powerful lessons for me. As I mentioned earlier, they taught me that opportunity does not equal mandate. But they also showed me how different God’s ways are from ours. By nature we’re impatient, self-centered, and task oriented. We’re always jumping the gun on God’s timing, thinking that He needs our help to get things done.

We have the examples of Abraham and Moses to show us the folly of that kind of thinking. Abraham grew tired of waiting for God to deliver on His promise of a son. When Sarah suggested using Hagar as a surrogate wife, He agreed and helped create a problem that still results in daily bloodshed in your time. (Genesis 16) When Moses single handedly undertook the rescue of God’s people from their bondage in Egypt by killing an Egyptian soldier, he set God’s plan back 40 years and caused a whole generation of our people to suffer and die in slavery. (Exodus 2:11-25)

Both these men were acting on promises God had made to them but grew impatient, as if they thought He had forgotten about them or needed their help to get the job done. Showing me that Saul was His problem, not mine, gave the Lord more time to prepare me for my role as the leader of His people. I would have deprived Him of that time had I acted out of my human nature.

I already knew that He would protect me every moment of every day in the interim. (As Peter would later say, He knows how to rescue Godly men from trials while holding the wicked for judgment. 2 Peter 2:9) So I didn’t waste any time by waiting for the Lord, and I wouldn’t have saved any by moving out ahead of Him. These lessons that were so true for me in my situation are just as true for you in yours, for our Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebr. 13:8) See you next time. 04-03-05

The post David’s Story, Part 4 – 1 Samuel 23-26 appeared first on Grace thru faith.

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

After Jonathon and I parted, I went to the village of Nob where the Tabernacle had been relocated when the Philistines attacked and defeated the Israelites at Shiloh. As you may recall, Eli the priest and his two sons were killed that day and the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines. Shortly before this time, Samuel had been elevated to the position of Israel’s Prophet, and God had warned him that this would happen. It was a judgment against Eli for letting his sons make a mockery of the Lord’s offering. While the Ark was soon returned to the Israelites because of the trouble the Philistines experienced while they had it (a fascinating story in its own right) the Tabernacle had remained at Nob. (1 Sam. 2-6)

Ahimelech was the priest in charge now and he trembled visibly when he saw me at his door. Obviously, word of my problems with Saul had preceded me and Ahimelech was afraid for his life. To protect him in case Saul found out I had been there, I made up a story about the king sending me on such an urgent mission that I hadn’t had time to pack food or even a sword. I asked him if he had any bread.

“I only have the Bread of the Presence left over from yesterday,” he replied. “If you and your men have kept yourselves from women, you can have it.”

If you’re not Jewish, I’ll need to explain a couple of things here to help you understand. First, the Bread of the Presence consisted of 12 loaves baked fresh every morning and placed on a table in the Holy Place. (It was the larger of the two rooms in the Tabernacle. The smaller one was called the Holy of Holies.) There was one loaf for each tribe, a continuing sign of our gratitude to the Lord for providing our daily bread. When it was replaced the next morning by a new supply, the day old bread was available for the priests to eat. In the name of human kindness, Ahimelech decided he could give the Bread to us, even though it was technically illegal, as long as we were ceremonially clean. Later on Jesus would use this incident to remind the Pharisees that there are exceptions to the Law, even on the Sabbath. (Matt. 12:3-4)

Next, having sexual relations with a woman would have made us ceremonially unclean, since it involved the emission of bodily fluid, and would have disqualified us from partaking of the Holy Bread until we had been made clean again, a time consuming process. When I assured Ahimelech we’d had no such opportunity, being hunted fugitives, he gave me the bread.

And finally, right from the beginning I had attracted followers because of my acts of valor against the Philistines. Men who were in distress, burdened by overwhelming debt, or otherwise discontent with their lives began joining my growing band of guerilla fighters.

Before leaving, I asked Ahimelech for a sword, and he gave me the one I had taken from Goliath when I killed him. It had been wrapped in cloth and placed in the Tabernacle in honor of my victory.

That same day I headed southwest toward Gaza and arrived in Gath, one of the Philistine cities. I was hoping to hide from Saul there, but when Achish, the King of Gath, recognized me, I pretended to be insane so he wouldn’t do me any harm. My act was so convincing he sent me away from his presence to avoid looking at me. I made my escape from there and wound up in a cave at Adullam, about 8 miles east and a little south from Gath. During the time I was there my family came to visit, and so did many others. A lot of them stayed and my little band of brothers swelled to over 400.

Here’s another of the many events in my story that also have symbolic implications. Let Saul represent Satan, the already deposed king, determined to fight on till the bitter end and take as many as possible with him in defeat. I represent our Lord Jesus, the King God has chosen and whose victory is assured. The cave at Adullam is the Church. (The name Adullam comes from a root meaning the Justice of God.) And my 400 followers stand for you. They were debt ridden, distressed and discontent, and so are you. Like them you have a debt of sin you can never repay, you’re distressed about the condition of your godless world, and no matter how much wealth and pleasure you’ve experienced, you’re so discontent in the absence of the Lord that you’re willing to leave it all behind to dwell in His presence. I wrote Psalm 56 to describe my plight then and help you compare it to yours now.

I took my mom and dad to Mizpah in Moab and arranged political asylum for them there. Since my father Jesse’s grandmother was Ruth, a Moabite princess, the King of Moab agreed to keep them safe while my life was in such danger. On returning to my stronghold in Adullam, I was told by the prophet Gad to leave and go back into Judah. Gad became a life long associate and would later help me orchestrate the musical arrangements for the Temple services. After a time a priest, a son of Ahimelech and another refugee from Saul’s administration, would also join completing the official royal triumvirate of Prophet, Priest, and King.

From my time until the Babylonian captivity, over 400 years later, all three of these offices were manned in the governance of God’s people. The office of King was suspended then, the last legitimate king of Israel being Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah as he’s called in the New Testament (Matt. 1:11).

(Jehoiachin’s uncle Mattaniah actually presided over Jerusalem’s defeat by Babylon, but he was not in the royal line of succession and was therefore not a legitimate king. He was placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar, who changed Mattaniah’s name to Zedekiah in the process. 2 Kings 24:17)

The last legitimate High Priest, Onias III, was murdered during the time of the Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes in 171 BC (Daniel 8:11 & 11:22). The Prophet Ezekiel wrote that these two offices would henceforth be vacant until the Messiah, to Whom they rightfully belong, came to fill them (Ezek. 21:25-27). The Prophet Zechariah confirmed this (Zech 6:12-13). In the mean time Jesus was also given the office of Prophet (Hebrews 1:1-2)

Getting back to our story, Saul discovered that Ahimelech, the priest from Nob, had helped me out. Summoning him, his family and all the other priests in Nob, Saul had them killed, 85 in all. Then he attacked and destroyed the whole town of Nob. Only one man escaped, the son of Ahimelech I mentioned above. When he told me what had happened, I was devastated and asked him to stay and help me make things right.

So many times I would rather have died myself than to have seen all those innocent people destroyed just for showing kindness to me. But that was my cross to bear. I had to trust God through this and leave the outcome in His hands.

I hope you’re beginning to see the clear parallels between my life and yours. Like it was for me, a throne is God’s purpose for you (1 Peter 2:9-12), a cross is his path for you (Matt. 10:37-39), and faith is his plan for you (2 Cor. 5:7). See you next time.

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My name translates into English as “beloved” and Jonathon’s is “God has given.” God loved me so much that he gave me Jonathon as a friend.

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

After defeating Goliath and helping the Israelite army put the Philistines to rout, I was the focus of much celebration, but for some reason neither Saul nor his general Abner recognized me. Of course, they were both very important dignitaries and I was just a growing shepherd boy, barely into my teens, but I had played the harp for Saul and was one of his armor-bearers. When Saul told him to find out more about me, Abner had me brought to them where Saul asked whose son I was. “The son of Jesse of Bethlehem,” I replied. Then he remembered.

Saul’s son Jonathon and I quickly became such good friends that Saul kept me with them, not letting me return to my father’s house. Jonathon and I even made a covenant together, pledging our loyalty to each other forever. As you’ll soon see, in my day such a bond was stronger than even family ties.

Because of my bravery in facing Goliath, Saul gave me a high rank in the army. He put me in charge of some men and sent us against the Philistines again and again. Each time the Lord showed us favor and we were victorious. Before long I was commanding a thousand-man force, and we were really giving the Philistines a bad time.

As we came through the towns of Israel, the women would come out to cheer us, singing, “Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands!” When Saul heard this, he became exceedingly jealous and began devising ways to get rid of me, suspecting I was trying to take the kingdom from him. (I don’t think he really understood that the Lord had already given it to me.)

One of the rewards promised to the soldier who killed Goliath was to receive the King’s daughter in marriage, so Saul offered me Merab, his oldest. Don’t let his apparent kindness fool you. He continued to send me into the fiercest battles, having decided to let the Philistines kill me for him. This way he would get his daughter back and still look like an honorable man. But I said I wasn’t qualified to enter the king’s family, so Merab was married to Adriel of Meholah instead.

Discovering that his second daughter Michal was in love with me, Saul next offered her to me. He thought she’d distract me with her love and cause me to make a mistake in battle and be killed. This time I explained my situation more clearly. I didn’t qualify to marry one of the king’s daughters because being from a shepherd’s family, I was a poor man and couldn’t afford the dowry of a princess.

Saul made the dowry issue go away, while cleverly devising another scheme to have the Philistines do his dirty work for him. “Just bring me the foreskins of 100 Philistines,” he said, “And that will be dowry enough.” He knew that a Philistine would die before letting his foreskin be taken, and thought that surely 100 of them would be enough to overpower me.

But I was overjoyed. Now I could marry Michal. My men and I went out and slew 200 Philistines and I brought all their foreskins to the King, to be sure I had met the requirement. Soon I was the king’s son-in-law, but Saul was even angrier now. He began to realize that the Lord was with me, not him, and now both a son and a daughter of his were aligned with me as well.

Bringing his closest men together, he instructed them to kill me. Jonathon warned me of this and then tried his best to persuade his father to leave me alone. “He hasn’t done anything to you,” Jonathon told Saul, “In fact, he’s helped you a great deal. Why are you after him like this?” At that Saul promised Jonathon he wouldn’t try to kill me anymore, a promise he would soon break. Just a few days later, as I was playing the harp for the king the evil spirit overpowered him again and he flung a spear at me, trying to pin me to the wall of his house. I ducked and the spear missed, but that night I made my escape from Saul’s house.

But Saul wasn’t done yet. He sent assassins after me to watch my house all night and told them to kill me as soon as I left in the morning. Michal spotted them and pushed me through a back window, urging me to flee into the night.

“You’ll be dead by morning if you stay,” she cried. Then she took our terriphim and laid it in the bed, arranging some goat hair around its head, to make it appear I was sleeping there in case the men stormed our house during the night. (Obviously, Michal and I were not idol worshipers. Terraphim are statues carved in the image of a man. In our day it was a tradition left over from ancient pagan times to demonstrate property ownership. That’s why you’ll sometimes hear terraphim called household gods or household idols.)

Saul was livid when he discovered the next day that she’d helped me get away. “Why did you deceive me and let my enemy escape?” he screamed at his daughter. Michal lied, telling him that I had threatened to kill her if she didn’t let me go.

For my part, I headed straight for Samuel. I needed some protection fast! He was the head of a school of prophets and hid me in their midst. Of course, Saul found out and sent men to capture me. But as they came for me, the Spirit of God came upon them and they began prophesying. This happened with three different groups of Saul’s soldiers. Each time the Spirit of God prevented them from capturing me. Finally, Saul himself came after me, and would you believe this, the Spirit had him doing it too, prophesying all day and into the night!

Through the power of the Spirit, I wrote about the cross, but I actually lived over 1000 years earlier. Back then we didn’t have the indwelling Spirit advising us on every thought and action like you do. The Holy Spirit came upon us from time to time directing us to do things God wanted or preventing us from doing things He didn’t. While I can’t say for sure, it sounded to me like the Holy Spirit was making Saul and his men prophesy about my future as Israel’s king to prevent them from harming me. It was a temporary empowerment, not a permanent one, similar to the way the Holy Spirit came upon the Disciples on the Day of Pentecost making it possible for everyone to understand them regardless of the language they spoke.

Jonathon was still not convinced that his father wanted me dead, so together we contrived a test. It was the beginning of a new month, and according to tradition a time for celebrating. Saul and his family had scheduled a feast and as his son-in-law, I was invited. I told Jonathon I’d be absent and if Saul asked about me to say I was with my family in Bethlehem. If Saul didn’t get mad, we’d know everything was OK, but if he did, we’d know he still planned to kill me. As we hatched our little plan, we also extended our covenant to include our descendants.

On the first day of the feast Saul didn’t say anything about my absence, but on the second day, he asked Jonathon where I was. When Jonathon gave him the excuse we’d agreed on and told his father that he’d given me permission, Saul became furious. “What kind of a son are you?” he demanded, “Why are you shaming your mother and me? Don’t you know that David is trying to steal the throne that by rights should be yours someday? Don’t you care that you’ll never be king as long as he’s alive? Now go bring him to me so I can kill him!”

“Why do you want him dead?” Jonathon asked, barely able to contain his anger, “What has he done?” But Saul threw a spear at Jonathon, trying to kill him, too. Jonathon ran from the house in a rage, and missing the festival meal altogether, hurried to warn me. Upon hearing the news I bowed before Jonathon three times, as a subject before a prince, and we said an emotional goodbye, again vowing our undying friendship, even to our descendants, forever.

My name translates into English as “beloved” and Jonathon’s is “God has given.” God loved me so much that he gave me Jonathon as a friend. Truly without him, I could not have survived Saul’s attacks against me. After Jonathon’s death at the Battle of Beth Shan and my ascension to the throne of Israel, I would expend a great deal of energy finding a relative of his to whom I could show just how much Jonathon’s friendship meant to me. As the King James translators would say 2600 years later, our two souls were knit together in love. (1 Sam 18:1)

If you have such a friend I urge you to do everything possible to nurture and protect the relationship. If you’ve lost one like this, no price would be too great to pay in reconciling. God has given each of His beloved a Jonathon. Who knows but that he or she was meant to be yours. 03-12-05

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Obed was the father of my father Jesse, so Boaz and Ruth were my great-grandparents. My name is David, a former shepherd boy from Bethlehem who became Israel’s greatest King.

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

Note: In Jack’s series, The Bible through the eyes of its writers, he writes in the first person as if the person was writing to us themselves. Here is his story of David.

After forty years in the wilderness, the Israelites finally crossed the Jordan to begin their conquest of the Promised Land. Joshua sent two spies into nearby Jericho to see what the place looked like from the inside, but they were spotted and the King of Jericho sent soldiers to capture them. Rahab, a resident of Jericho, offered to hide the Jewish spies from the King’s men, and in return, they agreed to save her and her family from the coming destruction.

After the massive city walls suddenly came crashing down in a tremendous display of God’s power, Jericho was defeated. As promised, Rahab was spared and joined the Israelites, having earlier proclaimed her faith in God. Later she married an Israelite named Salmon and they had a son, Boaz. Boaz became a prominent man around Bethlehem and eventually married Ruth, a Moabite princess who had come to live there with Naomi, his widowed sister-in-law. Their son Obed was the father of my father Jesse, so Boaz and Ruth were my great-grandparents. My name is David, a former shepherd boy from Bethlehem who became Israel’s greatest King.

One day when I was barely into my teens and out tending our family’s sheep, the great prophet Samuel arrived at our home. He had come to anoint one of my father Jesse’s eight sons as Israel’s next king because the Lord was fed up with Saul’s disobedience.

The Lord hadn’t told Samuel which of us He’d chosen, only to show up and follow instructions. After inviting my father and brothers to join with him in sacrificing a heifer to the Lord, Samuel started toward my oldest brother Eliab, thinking that since he looked the part he was probably the Lord’s choice.

But the Lord told him He wasn’t interested in physical appearance alone, but the motive of a man’s heart, and had Samuel reject him. He did the same to all my other brothers as well. Finally, Samuel asked my father if he had any more sons.

“There is still the youngest,” my father replied, referring to me, “But he’s tending the sheep.”

Samuel said, “Send for him.”

When I was brought in, the Lord told Samuel, “Rise and anoint him; he’s the one.”

So Samuel opened the horn of oil he had brought and used some to anoint me in the presence of my father and brothers, and from that day on I felt the power of the Spirit of the Lord upon me.

Later, when the Lord withdrew His anointing from Saul, an evil spirit came to take its place. Saul’s advisors suggested that someone who could play soothing music on a harp would help him get through his periods of torment. One of them mentioned that he had heard me play and thought I could do the job. So once again I was called away from our family’s sheep. My father put me on a donkey, gave me some food and drink and sent me off to report to Saul.

Saul liked my playing, so he made me one of his armor-bearers and asked my father to let me stay with him. From then on, whenever Saul was being tormented I would play for him. My playing gave Saul relief and made him feel better, and the evil spirit would leave.

Several years later we got word that our enemies, the Philistines, were gathering for war. They’d given us trouble before, so Saul knew to get the Israelite army together for a big battle. The two armies wound up on opposite hillsides separated by the Valley of Elah, about 15 miles west of Bethlehem. It was there that the battle would take place.

The Philistines had adopted the strategy of having champions decide the outcome of their battles. It went like this. One man from each army would come to the center of the battlefield, where they would fight each other. Whichever man won would achieve the victory for the army he represented. The army of the loser would suffer the defeat and become subject to the winners. So the Philistines sent a giant of a man, Goliath was his name, to challenge the Israelites. He was huge! Over nine feet tall and possessed of incredible strength. The Israelites were so intimidated that they sat there cowering for 40 days while Goliath came out to taunt them every morning. Even the promise that they would be given great wealth, marry the King’s daughter, and have their family exempted from paying taxes wasn’t sufficient incentive for anyone to risk their lives against this monster.

I had left Saul’s service and returned home, but when my three oldest brothers joined the army to fight the Philistines, I sometimes came to the camp to bring them food. One morning I arrived in time to hear Goliath’s daily taunt. I was appalled!

“Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the Living God?” I demanded. My oldest brother lit into me for that one, telling me to be quiet and accusing me of shirking my duties to come and watch the battle. I think that he, like the others, was embarrassed by the taunts of Goliath. And even though I had been anointed as Israel’s next King, I was still his kid brother.

I went off and talked to others and soon word of my comments came to Saul, and he had me brought to him. Because it had been several years, Saul didn’t recognize me as the boy who had played the harp for him, and I didn’t remind him.

“Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine,” I told Saul, “I’ll go out and fight him.”

“You’re just a boy, and this giant has been a warrior since his youth,” Saul replied, “You can’t go out and fight him.”

“I’ve saved my father’s sheep from a lion and a bear,” I said, ” and when they turned on me, I killed them both. The Lord, Who protected me from them will protect me from this Philistine.”

And so Saul relented and gave me permission to go.

Now before you accuse me of an excessive dose of youthful bravado, consider this. The Lord had sent Samuel to anoint me as Israel’s next king. Then he empowered me to kill a lion and a bear, showing me that he wouldn’t let anything happen to me before His promise came true.

Plus, Goliath was offending the Lord by taunting His army. Someone had to give that monster his due. Who better than one who couldn’t be harmed?

Saul had me try on his armor, but since he stood a head taller than most grown men, and with me just a teenager, it was too big and heavy for me to maneuver in. Finally, I took it off and went out with just my staff, my sling, and five stones I had picked up in a nearby brook.

When Goliath saw me, he laughed at first then became angry that a boy had come to challenge him. It was an insult to his prowess as a warrior, and he threatened me and cursed me in the name of his gods.

I shouted back, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

I put a stone in my sling and ran toward him letting it fly with all my strength. It struck him between the eyes and sunk clear into his brain killing him instantly. Then I used his own sword to cut off his head and held it aloft for all to see. Whatever bravery the Philistine army previously had vanished in a flash and they took off headlong, some toward Gath, and others toward Ekron, the nearest fortified cities. Saul’s army chased them all the way and the road was strewn with their dead bodies. And so the Israelites defeated the Philistines in the Valley of Elah.

You know, in many ways you’re a lot like me. The Lord has set his seal of ownership on you and anointed you with His Holy Spirit. You too are destined to become a king, and no enemy can take your life before that time. Like me, you’ll have many battles along the way but no matter how big and powerful your attackers are, the Lord is bigger and in His strength, you will defeat them all.

Next time you’re in one of those battles, remember this. Saul’s entire army cowered before Goliath, but a shepherd boy brought him down with one small stone. Saul’s army represents you in your own strength, Goliath stands for Satan, and I was there as a model of the Holy Spirit. People at their strongest are woefully outclassed in a spiritual battle with Satan and can only cower before him in fear. But when the Holy Spirit takes charge, it becomes like child’s play. As the Apostle John would one day write, “The One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)

Well, we’re just getting started with the story of my life, so I hope you’ll join me again next time. Shalom. 03-06-05

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Let’s Take A Look At What They Say

In Matt 11:14-15, the Lord informed Israel that if they chose to accept John the Baptist as “the Elijah who was to come” then he would be. The implications of their choice were staggering, requiring that Jesus is accepted as their Messiah as well since the mission of Elijah was to herald the coming Messiah. Had this happened, all of Israel’s Kingdom promises would have begun to come true. Israel’s leaders rejected both John and Jesus, and the result was a 2000 year pause in the fulfillment of Israel’s destiny.

In Matt 13:9, Mark 4:9, and Luke 8:8 the subject is the Sower and the four soils, which the Lord identified as a parable about His Word in the church age and the opposition it will encounter. The opposition obviously includes Satan, but also some ordinary people who refuse to become knowledgeable about His word, being too preoccupied with various earthly circumstances. Having chosen to place their emphasis on the things of this world, He proclaimed, many will find the next one to be distinctively not to their liking.

More Cause and Effect

In Mark 4:23 the subject is the revelation of things hidden, and the relationship between considering and understanding. There’s a connection here with the references above because the Lord clearly identified the cause and effect relationship between the effort we put forth in studying, and the depth of understanding we’ll attain. Every detail of God’s plan will be revealed, but only the diligent student will comprehend.

“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you–and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” With the measure you use (time and effort in study) it will be measured to you (level of comprehension) Mark 4:24-25.

Mark 7:16, where the phrase is omitted in modern translations, has to do with clean and unclean foods. The Lord declared all foods clean and the heart of man incurably unclean, and warned us again that spiritual cleanliness is a matter of the heart, not of behavior. It’s another application of a principle we’ve discussed before. That which is physical and external in the Old Testament becomes spiritual and internal in the New Testament.

And Still More

Luke 14:35 is a parable about salt and saltiness. Salt was a preservative; retarding the effect of spoilage in the age before refrigeration. In the parable, it’s a model of the church. If salt loses its saltiness it’s useless. It has no other purpose. If the church loses its preservative nature, no longer retarding the spoiling effect of sin in the world, it too becomes useless. As He predicted, becoming too immersed in the things of this world has rendered the latter-day church all but ineffective in retarding the spoilage of the world due to sin.

Church History According to Jesus

The 7 references in Revelation 2-3 also describe the church age. Each follows an admonition to a group claiming to be part of the church. To those caught up in organized religion, He warns, “Come back to your first love (Rev. 2:5).” To those suffering persecution, He admonishes, “Be faithful (Rev. 2:10).” To those practicing idolatry, He commands, “Repent (Rev. 2:16).” To those wrapped up in cult-like systems, He threatens repayment according to their deeds (Rev. 2:22). He accuses mainline denominations of being spiritually dead (Rev. 3:1), comforts evangelicals with the promise of His return for them (Rev. 3:10), and condemns apostates to eternal loss (Rev. 3:16). For each group, a clear choice is given and each group is admonished to comprehend it.

The Times of the End

Finally, the variation “Let the reader understand” in Matt 24:15 concerns events that signal the end of the age. Here the Lord commanded us to understand eschatology; the study of the end times. The sad fact that so-called theologians have made this a controversial issue is no excuse. He wouldn’t require you to understand without giving you the capacity to do so (review Mark 4:23-25). Failure to do this, He implied, will result in us being mistaken about the purpose of those events, and woefully ignorant concerning the signs of His return. And so we are.

Truth or Consequences

In each case, those being addressed are offered a clear choice, consequences are foretold, and a commandment to understand is given. It is as clean cut a model as you’ll find anywhere in Scripture of the basis on which the Lord has determined to relate to us. Whether we’re a part of Israel, the Church, or the World, the underlying principle is choice.

Ultimately the consequences of our choices can be a matter of life or death.  We will either say to Him, “Lord, Thy Will be done” and accept His offer of eternal life with Him, or He will say to us, “mankind, thy will be done” and send us to a place where we’ll never have to hear His voice again. 06-30-03

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In Matt. 6:31-33 Jesus said if we seek His kingdom and His righteousness, God will supply all our needs. Here’s a beautiful story from the Old Testament to show this wasn’t a new idea when Jesus spoke it, but was documented in their history.

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”

Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Your servant has nothing here at all,” she said, “Except a little oil.”

Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the doors behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars and as each is filled, put it to one side.”

She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”

But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

She went and told the man of God and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.” (2 Kings 4:1-7)

What’s The Meaning Of This?

In the time following the death of King Solomon and the division of Israel into two kingdoms, there was a period of general indifference and apostasy, especially in the North.  During this time men who maintained their faith in the Lord formed study groups in various places for the purpose of keeping knowledge of the Lord alive.  These study groups were called companies of prophets.  Although the men in these groups were not official prophets of Israel,  the Lord blessed them with spiritual gifts including the gift of prophecy.  Both Elijah and his successor Elisha maintained close relationships with these groups.

As our story opens, a man who had served the Lord by joining one of these companies of prophets has recently died.  His time of service obviously limited his income and at his death, he not only had no inheritance to leave but had actually gone into debt. Now it was the duty of his family to repay his creditor.

Having no property or money, they were facing indentured servitude, a legal form of debt repayment in those days. But since there were no jobs for women back then, if the sons were forced into slavery the widow would be left with no means of support.  It was a huge problem for which they had no remedy.  It was miraculously solved by the Lord’s increase of her small supply of oil, a valuable commodity.

Elisha told the widow to ask her neighbors for as many empty jars as she could get. Then the Lord supernaturally increased her supply of oil so that when she had finished filling all the jars she had collected, she had so much oil to sell that she could pay off all their debts and support herself and her family for the rest of their lives with the money she would receive.

The widow and her sons hadn’t done anything to earn this. It was a gift by the Grace of God, and it far exceeded their wildest expectations, solving not only their current problem but preventing any future financial problems as well. They were set for the rest of their lives, and all they had to do was to ask.

Concealed In The Old…

Paul wrote, “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).  It’s a statement of enormous significance to New Testament believers because it explains that the history of Israel (the Old Testament) is filled with events that are meant to instruct us in the ways of the Lord. It’s there to encourage us as well, as we bring a New Testament perspective to Old Testament events. The story of the widow and the oil is a great example, and even though it really happened, it can be interpreted as a parable where every character and thing represents something else.

The widow and her sons can represent the world.  Ever since the Lord had Moses anoint Aaron with special oil in creating the Levitical Priesthood, oil has traditionally been used to symbolize the Holy Spirit.  And the empty jars stand for unregenerate people just as they do in Jesus’ miracle of turning water into wine (John 2:1-11).

Revealed In The New

Financially speaking, the destitute widow and her sons were facing a life of slavery.  Spiritually speaking, when the Messiah came everyone in the world was facing a life of slavery to sin.  It was a huge problem for which they had no remedy. The only presence of the Holy Spirit to be found was in Jesus (John 7:37-39). Just as Elisha had told the widow and her sons to gather empty jars, Jesus told His disciples to go into all the world baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19).

As long as the widow had empty jars, her supply of oil expanded to fill them. As she filled each jar she set it aside.  As Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to His disciples (John 20:22) and they, in turn, gave Him to others, the availability of the Holy Spirit expanded beyond Israel to meet the worldwide need. From then until now every new believer receives the Holy Spirit at the moment of belief (Ephe. 1:13-14, 2 Cor. 1:21-22).  There is always enough for each one and there always will be for as long as people come. As each one of us comes and receives the Holy Spirit we are set apart.  Our debts are paid (past sins are forgiven) our appointment with slavery is canceled, and we will never be indebted again (our future sins are also forgiven). Colossians 2:13-14, 2 Cor. 5:17, Hebrews 10:12-14 all confirm this.

When all the jars the widow and her sons had collected were filled the oil stopped flowing.  The widow and her sons were set for life.  When the predetermined number of believers has come into the Church, the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit will end and we will be whisked off to our eternal home with the Lord (John 14:2-3, Romans 11:25).  We’ll be set forever.

Are you as amazed as I am at the New Testament theology in this passage from 2 Kings 4:1-7? Here is salvation by grace, the remission of sin, the redemption of the soul, the gift of life, and eternal security all rolled up and tied off in one neat package. Of course, you have to know something about the New Testament to see it. And if you didn’t know the Old Testament you wouldn’t know where to find the story. Proof again that the Bible isn’t two books, it’s one. And those who only read half, no matter which half, are missing the point. And that is,  what’s contained in the Old is explained in the New.  Put another way, what’s concealed in the Old is revealed in the New. To get the whole story, you have to read the whole book.  Selah 07-13-13

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For years the Lord has been done a terrible disservice over the issue of Paul’s complaint about the thorn in his flesh, and it’s time to set the record straight. If you’ve been taught that “My Grace is sufficient for you” was the Lord’s excuse for not healing Paul, then pay close attention. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then get ready for a great example of how folks distort the meaning of Scripture—either to satisfy their pre-conceived notions or justify their lack of faith.

Jack’s note from 2008: (This is an update of an article I first published in 1999.  I’ve received several emails lately questioning the views I expressed in my study entitled O You Of Little Faith.  In each of them, a misinterpretation of Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was used to support the theory that God sometimes refuses to heal us when we ask.   Sadly, this misinterpretation is all too common among Christians today.  I’ve updated and expanded the article and offer it in response to these questions.  Be blessed.)

My Grace Is Sufficient For You

To get the context, let’s read Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 12:7-9.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Before we look at the problem, let’s review the popular interpretation. According to some, Paul’s eyesight was permanently damaged when he was blinded on the Damascus Road. Supposedly, this caused a disease of the eye common to the day, especially around Damascus. Its name was ophthalmia, and the visible symptom was a stream of pus running out of the eyes and down the face. It was nearly as repugnant as leprosy. The popular interpretation holds that this is the thorn in his flesh Paul was referring to when he asked the Lord for healing three times and was refused.

The “lesson” of this interpretation is that even the great Paul wasn’t healed when he asked and that the Lord had actually given him this disease to help him overcome his pride. We’re to understand that God gives us disease (and misfortune as well) to help us overcome our sins and that we shouldn’t ask for healing from something the Lord gave us for that purpose. If we do ask and don’t get healed, it’s because the Lord is dealing with us.  All this is wrapped up in the Father’s love, saying that He’s working for our good in spite of our selfish desires.

So what’s wrong with that view? Well, aside from the fact that the Lord handled our sin problem at the cross and now sees us as being without any imperfection (2 Cor. 5:21), and that it comes perilously close to the Eastern notion of karma, the context makes it ridiculous, and the translation is flawed.

What’s The Context?

Just imagine you’re the Creator of the universe. Out of your boundless love, you’ve given the life of your Son to redeem your creation from its bondage to sin, and you’ve gone to great lengths to recruit someone to go around telling people about it so they can be saved. You want this person to prove that you’re much greater than all their pagan gods so you bring him right up to your very throne and show him things no other man has ever seen so He can speak with authority. (2 Cor. 12:2-4) And you empower him to heal them from their diseases (Acts 19:11-12) and even raise some of them from the dead (Acts 20:7-12).

But every time he speaks of your wonderful love and miraculous power, he has to stand there with pus running out of both eyes and explain that you gave him this disease and won’t heal him because you’re afraid he’ll become too proud.  Would he have a credibility problem? I’d say so.

Now let’s learn what the passage really says. The word for thorn literally means a pointed stake and recalls a situation in Judges 2 when the Israelites failed to rid the land of all its previous inhabitants as God had commanded (Deut. 20:16-18).  Because of their failure to obey Him, The Angel of the Lord declared that these people would become perpetual enemies to oppose the Israelites physically and distract them spiritually.  He then coined the phrase “thorn in your sides” to symbolize their physical and spiritual opposition.  From that day to this, these people have inflicted incredible physical abuse upon God’s people.

The word torment actually means to rap with the fist, or buffet. It also comes from a root meaning to physically punish.

In both these words, there’s a clear implication of physical attack. So the real story of Paul’s thorn in the flesh goes more like this. Everywhere Paul went he was physically abused. Hear his own account from 2 Cor. 11:23-26:

“I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.”

Is He Dead Yet?

I urge you to study these events carefully in Acts. For example, in Philippi, Paul and Silas were stripped and severely beaten with rods. The flesh on their backs was bruised and bleeding, and the pain was incredible, but they were taken to prison without medical attention, their hands and feet secured in stocks, forcing them to sit in an upright position, making sleep virtually impossible even if the pain would have allowed it.

But at midnight they were heard singing hymns of praise, and the doors of the prison broke open, freeing them. They went to the home of the jailer, who washed and fed them. The miracles he had seen caused his whole family to be saved that night. The next morning when they were officially released, they walked 30 miles to Amphipolis having received no medical treatment and having had no recovery time, not even a night’s sleep. (Acts 16:22-40) The Lord had healed them.

But an earlier incident in Lystra is perhaps the most dramatic.  A group of angry Jews from Antioch and Iconium had followed Paul to Lystra. When they caught up with him, they took up stones and stoned him. (Acts 14:19-20)  Remember, stoning was the Jewish method of execution. It consisted of immobilizing a person, sometimes by burying him up to his waist, and then hurling rocks at his head and upper body until he died.

Believing they had been successful and that Paul was dead, they dragged his body outside the city and left it there for the wild dogs to eat. But the believers gathered around him and prayed.  Paul got up and went back into the city with them. The next day he walked 25 miles to Derbe.  It’s like walking home from your execution; it just doesn’t happen.

These are incredible examples of God’s miraculous power. Contrary to the popular interpretation, Paul was physically healed by the grace of God over and over again.  He was rescued from the open sea and even raised from the dead.  It was a great testimony of God’s strength perfected in Paul’s weakness.

The idea that God doesn’t heal people anymore can’t be supported by this or any other scripture.  The real lesson here is that while God refused to eliminate the resistance to Paul’s ministry, He promised to see him through it successfully if Paul would walk in faith down the path God had set before him.  Imagine the faith Paul must have had, going into those towns knowing his enemies were waiting and would try to stop him again.  But each time it happened, and each time God healed him, his faith was strengthened, God’s glory was increased, and the Gospel was spread.

In the conquest of the Promised Land, God could have simply struck all of Israel’s enemies dead, but instead, He required Israel to fight, telling them in advance that they would achieve victory.  The only defeat they suffered was when they disobeyed, and as soon as they confessed He gave them that victory too. (Joshua 7-8)

Jesus said that in this world we will have trials, but to take heart because He has overcome the world.  (John 16:33) What He meant by that is He may not choose to deliver you from the trials you face in this world, but He will never leave you or forsake you as you go through them, and given the chance, He will miraculously restore you to show forth His glory.   The only reason Paul performed greater miracles than we do is because he had bigger faith.  The only reason he had bigger faith is because he fought bigger battles.  Selah 10-18-08

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A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16) The Bible has a lot to say about prayer. After all, it’s the way we communicate with our Lord. And all of it promises that God hears and answers prayers, especially those offered by two or more in agreement (Matt. 18:19). The Lord personally promised His disciples that He will do whatever we ask in His name so that the Son may bring glory to the Father (John 14:13, 15:7, 15:16). So why do so many otherwise faithful Christians have difficulty submitting their requests to God and waiting in faith for an answer? Why do we often pray only as a last resort after all our other strategies have failed, and then get upset when we don’t seem to get an answer?

Peace Beyond Understanding

In Phil. 4:4-7 we’re promised that if we rejoice in all our circumstances and fearlessly present our requests to God with thanksgiving, He’ll provide a peace that surpasses human understanding to guard our hearts and minds. There’s a lot of good stuff in those few verses, and by sincerely following this advice I’ve seen miraculous answers to prayer, in my own life and in others.

First, rejoice in all circumstances, even those you’d rather not be in. Remember the Lord warned that we’d have some difficult times in this world, but to take heart because He had overcome this world (John 16:33). He could have said, “Cheer up, this too shall pass.” Moreover, by rejoicing in all circumstances, not just the pleasant ones, we deprive the enemy of victory while making our own situation more tolerable. Besides, maybe the Lord’s going to use our problem to bring about some great blessing. He doesn’t contrive difficulties for us to make us into better people (we’re already perfect in His sight, remember?) but He is the Master at turning lemons into lemonade when we cooperate. Thanking Him in advance helps create the climate for blessing.

Next, we’re told not to be anxious about anything. We walk by faith, not by sight, remember? Just because we can’t see the happy ending doesn’t mean there won’t be one. Pray for it, thanking God in advance for seeing you through. Pray for everything, be fearful of nothing, and thankful for anything.

And here’s the best part. When you sincerely follow Paul’s instructions to the Philippians, the Lord will cause a peace to descend upon you irrespective of your circumstances; a peace that will guard your heart and mind, keeping you from having a meltdown while He works things out for your benefit. Never forget that He’s committed to working everything together for the good of those who love Him and are “the called” (the Church), according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Your world could be coming apart at the seams, and yet you can be a paragon of peace and strength to those around you because of these promises made by One who cannot lie or change His mind (Num. 23:19).

So what’s the problem?

In John 15:7 we’re told that if we remain in Him and His words remain in us, we can ask whatever we wish and it will be given us. See the conditions? If we remain in Him means if we’re in fellowship, if we haven’t let our un-confessed sins create a disconnect in our relationship that has disrupted communication. Many Christians are big on knowing what God should do for them, but not so big on their responsibility to remain in fellowship. It’s not that it’s so difficult. Just be humble enough to admit you’re a sinner and sincerely ask for forgiveness. He’s promised in advance to grant it (1 John 1:9) and it’s how we become righteous again and restored to fellowship. If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the Truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). We can’t go more than a few minutes without sinning, yet I suspect many go through much of their lives without confessing and then blame God when their prayers aren’t answered. There’s another sin to confess.

His words remaining in us means we remember and claim His promises to us, several of which I’ve enumerated above. In all of God’s miraculous work, our faith is the variable, not His ability. In reading about the miracles in the Gospels, it’s always made clear that the faith of the petitioner facilitated the miracle. The Greek word for faith means to stake our lives on His promises. If we’re willing to stake our lives on His promise to save us from our sins and rescue us from hell, why can’t we trust Him to help us find a new job, or send the money to make our mortgage payment? The devil would like you to forget His promises, but faith requires that you remember them. They’re the foundation upon which your faith is built. Ours is not a blind faith, but one justified by His promises.

My daughter Jessica was almost literally on the way to the airport when the money arrived to pay for her ticket to Brazil (no I didn’t send it!) She believed the Lord was calling her to missionary work there, so she went. When I asked her about it, she simply said, “When it’s His will, it’s His bill.”

“Ah, the naiveté of youth,” you say. But she had spent months confessing her sins, preparing her heart, and seeking His will in prayer. She had done her part and trusted the Lord to do His.

Your Faith Has Made You Well

Allison was a young woman so afflicted by epilepsy that it was literally ruining her life. She couldn’t get her degree because the stress of finals always brought on a seizure causing her to miss the exams. Her fear of a public seizure kept her from making friends. In shame, she moved from the mid-west to Utah where she became a Christian. After months and months of studying the Bible and praying for healing she had a dream that she would come to our church (she wasn’t a member), suffer a seizure there and be healed. Imagine the guts it took to walk into that church for the first time knowing that she was going to disrupt everything and suffer huge embarrassment because of her disease. But she had confessed her sins and prepared her heart, so in faith, she came. Right in the middle of the lesson she let out a scream and keeled over, bringing the service to a halt. After recovering from the shock, I gathered people around me who believed God could work a miracle and as her face turned blue from oxygen deprivation we asked Him to heal her. She sat up with a start, and the paramedics who had been called just checked her over and left. Later her doctors tried unsuccessfully to induce a seizure and so they pronounced her cured. She threw away her medication and returned home to resume her interrupted life. Years later she’s still doing fine. She had remained in Him and His words remained in her. Her faith healed her. I could relate countless other stories of prayers in faith that produced miracles, all of which involved active preparation and participation by the petitioner.

But there’s one more problem. Usually, we’re not willing to let God answer our prayers in the way He thinks best. In my prayers, I’ve learned to put forth my solution to whatever problem I’m facing, but then “remind” the Lord that I know He might have a different solution in mind, and that it’s OK to do things His way. I know that He Who sees the end from the beginning has a much better perspective, and will ALWAYS come up with a better plan than any I could fashion. Mostly He lets me have my way, but once in awhile he’ll conjure up something that knocks my socks off.

What’s The Formula?

I’m not big on “formula” prayers, but here’s a prayer outline I was given years ago that’s held me in good stead. The teacher called it the ACTS method. It’s an acronym.

• A stands for adoration. Tell the Lord how much you love Him. You don’t do it nearly enough.
• C is for confession. Always invoke 1 John 1:9 and be restored to righteousness. Remember, the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
• T is for thanksgiving. Thank Him in arrears for blessings you’ve received in the past and in advance for those you’ll receive in the future. Finally
• S is for supplication. Having told Him how much you love Him, restored yourself to fellowship, and expressed your gratitude for all the ways He’s blessed you in the past, you’re now in the right position to ask for yet another favor.

To that, I’ll add one more thought. It pays to end your prayers the same way Jesus did in the garden, “Not my will, Father, but yours.” Of course, you have to truly believe the Lord can do a better job of running your life than you can. Selah

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That’s the question non-believers often ask after seeing “The Passion Of The Christ,” and it’s a good one. Why does there have to be so much violence?

The easy answer pertains to the movie. There’s so much violence in the film because Mel Gibson wanted to make it as realistic a portrayal of actual events as possible. And even a cursory look at the people and the times tells you they were both very violent. Remember, some of their mass entertainment in those days involved watching humans being torn apart by wild animals for sport.

The Romans were oppressive conquerors who brooked absolutely no violation of their enforced peace, the “Pax Romana.” Executions were public and hideously violent, and all punishment was bloody and life threatening. (The Apostle Paul, being a Roman citizen, was legally spared from the standard, excruciatingly painful forms of execution because it was believed that Roman citizens were too good for that. He was merely beheaded.)

Who Started This?

But the Romans weren’t the first, and by no means were they the most violent. The Assyrians, inventors of crucifixion, skinned people alive, chopped off their heads and mounted them on poles. The Babylonians threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego live into a roaring furnace. They threw Daniel, an old man in his 80s, into a den of hungry lions. The Jews stretched Isaiah between two horses and sawed him in half. Mark was tied up and dragged into a fire to burn alive. Bartholomew was beaten with barrel staves, crucified and then beheaded. Peter was crucified upside down. Antipas was slowly roasted alive in a giant bronze kettle. Others were boiled alive, drawn and quartered, nailed to trees—and all this in public. It was thought to be a deterrent to crime. And we think our death by injection is barbaric.

Three Theological Thorns

The harder answer pertains to theology, specifically the difficulty in making the punishment fit the crime. Sins are crimes against God and His need for justice requires punishment. Jesus came to Earth as the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). So what do you have to do to adequately punish someone for all the sins of mankind? Man’s sins are stacked up to the heavens, and God cannot ignore them.

We say, “He’s God. He can do anything. Why doesn’t He just forgive us?” The problem is, He’s not like us. He can’t express any of His attributes at the expense of any other one like we can. In other words, He can’t be arbitrary, or two-faced. If He wants to show mercy, His righteousness must first be satisfied. Before He can express His love for us, His needs for justice have to be met. If He wants to forgive our debts, someone else has to pay.

It’s said that about half of the people ever born are alive today. Each one of us has committed enough sin to warrant the death penalty. That means 13 billion people deserve to die for their sins, and a just God simply cannot overlook that. But because He so loves the world, He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) His Son would pay the penalty due us. So what does it take for God’s justice to be served, so that out of His love for us he can purchase 13 billion pardons? (Remember that although many will go unclaimed, 13 billion pardons were purchased on the cross.)

I Hate It When That Happens

Second, what sort of suffering must one man endure to demonstrate how much God hates sin? In this age of Grace, we have such a candy coated perception of sin that we’ve forgotten how much God hates it. He HATES it. He destroyed well over a million people in the Great Flood because of their sins. What would He have to do to His Son to assuage His anger over all the sins in the history of mankind?

I Told You So

And then there’s the issue of prophecy. To prove that He was the Messiah, Jesus had to fulfill all the prophecies about His life AND death. Some of them had been a matter of public record for nearly 1000 years when He arrived on Earth. Prophecies like these:

Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
You have taken my companions and loved ones from me;
the darkness is my closest friend. (Psalm 88:16-18)

I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting. (Isa 50:6)

Just as there were many who were appalled at him-
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness- (Isa 52:14)

I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing. (Psalm 22:14-18)

Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (Isa 53:4-6)

So There You Have It

Three huge problems to address. A lesser god would have washed his hands of us and gone away to let us die in our sins as we deserve. It took an unbelievable amount of punishment—punishment that in both intensity and duration exceeds what any other man has ever experienced—to make it possible for God to forgive us.

But Jesus, in all His love for us, agreed to endure it. And in all the blood and gore and pain and suffering let’s not forget this one thing. It was sufficient. His last words from the cross when translated literally come out “Paid in full!” And the fact that three days later He walked out of the tomb, having conquered death, proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that He had done it!

You see, if Jesus took upon Himself all the sins of the world as the prophecy above states (He literally became the physical embodiment of sin), and if God cannot abide the presence of sin, then the fact that He is alive at the right hand of God today proves that the price He paid was sufficient. For if even one little sin from all those that ever have or ever will be committed by man remained unpaid at the cross, He’d still be in the grave.

But since He came out of the tomb, you can make absolutely certain that you will, too. For if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

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As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. (Matt 4:18-20)

According to John’s gospel Jesus and Peter first met after John the Baptist introduced Jesus to two of his disciples as “The Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:35).  Andrew, one of those disciples, immediately rushed to inform his brother Peter that he had seen the Messiah. Peter and Andrew were fishermen from Bethsaida, a fishing village (Bethsaida means “House of Fishing”) on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus of course was known as a carpenter’s son who grew up in Nazareth, a town about a day’s walk up into the steep hills that separated the Galilee from the plains of Megiddo to the west.

Take Me To Your Leader

Andrew brought Peter to meet Jesus and within a day or two Jesus had asked them to follow Him.  James and John, another pair of brothers who were also fishermen, were the next two disciples chosen and these four became the closest ones to Jesus, forming an inner circle of sorts. And of the 12, Peter became the group’s informal leader.

Peter’s small town naiveté and unabashed machismo teamed up to make him a take charge kind of guy, and Jesus seemed to take a special delight in him. Peter’s periodic bouts of “foot in mouth” disease must have given the Lord countless hours of laughter.

But it was his courage that most distinguished him. When Jesus approached the disciples’ boat, walking on the water, it was Peter who got out of the boat and walked across the water toward him (Matt. 14:28-31). It was Peter who made the first public declaration of the Lords’ true identity as the Messiah of Israel (Matt. 16:13-16). When they were surrounded by a large contingent of armed temple guards on the night of the Lord’s arrest, it was Peter who drew a sword and cut off Malchus’ ear (John 18:10). He was ready to take on the whole bunch.

That’s why it was such a shock to everyone when a powerless servant girl scared Peter into denying the Lord three times later that night. It was so out of character for him. Jesus had anticipated this, predicting that Peter would do just that after hearing him boast that even if everyone else deserted the Lord, he would not (Matt. 26:33-34).

Reverting to Peter’s original name, the Lord had said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32)

What an amazing thing to say! First of all, notice that Satan had to ask permission before he could touch the disciples (the Greek word for “you” in the first sentence is plural) and then see that Jesus was already interceding for Peter. Not that he would be spared his ordeal, but that his faith would be strong enough to sustain him through it. Finally Jesus told Peter to strengthen his brothers after his ordeal was over, showing that the Lord’s prayers on Peter’s behalf had already been answered.

None of what Peter was going to do would catch Jesus by surprise, and from His perspective, none of it would cause the slightest change in their relationship. But Peter’s failure would humble him, give him more compassion and make him a better leader. And the other disciples would be comforted in that the failure of their courageous leader would somehow make their own failures easier to bear.

Paul would later write, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Cor. 1:3-4)

Someone has paraphrased these verses saying, “Our life is a ministry and our sorrows are our credentials.” Peter’s sorrows would make him a more effective minister to his flock. And the Holy Spirit would use Peter’s new-found compassion to demonstrate just how dramatic a change can be wrought in the life of a willing believer. His sermons in Acts 2:14-39 and Acts 3:11-26 must have astounded and amazed those listeners who had known him for any length of time.

Do You Still Love Me?

Perhaps the best way to understand the extent of the Lord’s faithfulness to Peter is to listen in on his so-called reinstatement. We’ll need to insert the Greek words for love to get the full impact.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” The word He used for love here is “agapeo”, which in the Greek language is the highest and purest form of love.

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “You know that I love you.” But Peter used the word “phileo” which denotes a brotherly love or affection, a much less intense form of love.

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” (agapeo)

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” (phileo)

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” (phileo)

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” (phileo)

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. (John 21:15-17)

By backing down to Peter’s all too human level of love, Jesus completed the reinstatement, in effect saying, “I know you’re giving me all the love you can and it’s enough.”

And so it is with us. None of what we’ll ever do can catch Jesus by surprise,  and from His perspective, none of it can cause the slightest change in our relationship with Him. He knew every one of our sins before He went to the cross, and gave His life so we could be cleansed of all of them. We can’t surprise Him, we can’t disappoint Him, and we can’t let Him down. If He chooses to deliver us from a situation, He can. If not, He’s at the right hand of the Father interceding for us, praying us through it just like He was with Peter (Romans 8:34).  And like he did with Peter, He’ll use the situation to make us a better model of what His love can accomplish in the life of a willing believer. Selah 06-11-05

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Recently my belief that Jesus is God in human form was challenged again. This has happened to me several times in the past and while I’ve laid out the Biblical basis for my belief in several articles I’ve never specifically addressed the common objections others have put forth. In this study, I’ll do just that.

But first I want to lay a brief theological foundation that in my opinion proves that Jesus has to be God in human form. In fact, I think it will demonstrate that if Jesus isn’t God then none of us is saved. It’s based on three points.

1. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

2. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22)

3. A righteous man for an unrighteous mankind (1 Peter 3:18)

All Have Sinned

Adam was created in the image of God. He had the freedom to choose right or wrong, the intellect with which to decide, and he was immortal. When he sinned he was exercising his right to choose, but one of the consequences of his choice was that he became mortal. Another was that all of his descendants would be born with a sin nature that would make it impossible for them to live a sin free life. That meant there was no way for them to live up to God’s standards and expect to spend eternity with Him. Without a means of redemption, they would all be hopelessly lost because since that time all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

No Blood, No Forgiveness

From cover to cover the Bible consistently teaches that it takes the shedding of blood to reverse the consequences of sin. When Adam and Eve became conscious of their sin and hid from God, He clothed them with the skins of animals. This symbolized “covering” them through the shedding of blood so they could stand before Him (Genesis 3:21). God also taught Cain and Abel that the only acceptable offering involved the shedding of blood. When Cain presented an improper offering it was rejected, and God admonished him saying, “If you do what is right will you not be accepted?” (Genesis 4:7). In Egypt, the Israelites were saved from the destroyer by the blood of a lamb applied to their doorposts (Exodus 12:7,13).

Later, after Moses documented it in the Torah we could see that the entire Levitical system was based on the shedding of blood. According to the amplified version of Hebrews 9:22, under the Law almost everything is purified by means of blood, and without the shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for sins.

The Righteous For The Unrighteous

As the revelation of God’s remedy for the sins of the people progresses through the Old Testament we begin to see that the only animals acceptable for sin offerings were those that symbolize innocence in our minds. Who can think of anything more innocent than a year old lamb? It was this animal God chose to demonstrate the need for innocent blood to be shed for the remission of sin (Exodus 30:38). We also learn that these animals had to be perfect specimens, free from spot or blemish (Exodus 12:5).

From the New Testament, we learn that even these perfect innocent animals could only set the sins of the people aside temporarily. They were a model of the sacrifice God required, not the sacrifice itself. Eventually it would take the blood of a perfect, innocent man to pay for the sins of mankind (Hebrews 10:1-14). A righteous man would have to pay the price for the sins of unrighteous mankind to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

The problem was there were no perfect innocent men. From the first children of Adam and Eve to this very day there has not been a perfect sin free man among their natural descendants who could be offered as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. We are all contaminated by our sin nature and are not acceptable to redeem mankind even if we wanted to, because we’re not perfect innocent specimens.

Many people don’t realize this, but being sin free is not just a matter of preventing oneself from doing certain things. Sin begins in our heart, in our thoughts and desires, and the heart of man is incurably wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Because of our sin nature, it’s impossible to prevent ourselves from having a sinful thought now and then. It only takes one, and no matter how fleeting it is, as soon as it comes we’re no longer sin free. The Pharisees were obsessive about keeping the Law, but Jesus said even their righteousness was not sufficient to gain them entrance into the kingdom (Matt. 5:20).

Angels can take on the appearance of men and according to Hebrews 13:2 some of us have entertained angels without knowing it. But it is strictly forbidden for angels to actually become men and those who did so in the past are even now chained in dark prisons awaiting their judgment (Jude 1:6). Even though the angels who remain faithful to God don’t sin, man cannot be saved by the sacrifice of an angel.

So then, the blood of animals could only temporarily set man’s sins aside. All natural born men are disqualified because of their sin nature. Angels are forbidden. There was only one way humans could be saved and it required God Himself to become human. And to be human, He had to come into the world in the way of all people. He had to be born of a woman.

But as we’ve seen above, when you combine the egg of an earthly woman with the sperm of an earthly man their offspring will inherit a sin nature and be disqualified. To maintain His purity, God had to be born of a woman but without an earthly father. In this way, He could be all God and all man, a perfect, innocent specimen of mankind. The one we know as Jesus is the only one in the history of mankind to be so.

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens (Hebr. 7:25-26).

What Was The Question?

With that beginning, there are five places in the New Testament where testimony is given to support the fact that Jesus is God in human form. These are the verses I use to explain my belief in the deity of Jesus and naturally they are also the verses others focus on in denying it.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning (John 1:1-2).

The naysayers would have us believe that because the name “Jesus” does not appear in this passage my belief that its about Jesus is just a private interpretation that can’t be confirmed. Let’s see if they’re right.

John went on to explain who “the Word” is. I say “who” because John used the personal pronoun “He” in referring to him. Verse 3 tells us all things were made through Him and without Him nothing that has been made was made. That makes “the Word” the Creator of all. Verse 10 says He was in the world and though the world was made by Him the world did not recognize Him. Even His own people did not receive Him.

John 1:12-13 say that to all who received Him and believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. In verse 14 John said the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Several translations of verse 18 (but not all) tell us that no one has ever seen God, but His one and only son, who is God Himself, has made Him known to us. Even without the testimony of verse 18, it seems clear to me that John was speaking of Jesus throughout. But there’s more.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. (Colossians 1:15-16).

Here the argument is that Colossians 1:15 says Jesus is the image of God, not God himself and that verse 16 is describing God not Jesus. But what verse 15 means is that the Son is the visible form of the invisible God. And to say that verse 16 is describing God and not Jesus is a violation of the context. Colossians 1: 15-18 are all about Jesus. They only mention God as being the invisible One of whom Jesus is the visible image.

It’s worth noting that in Colossians 1:16 Paul attributed the creation of all things to the Son. John 1:3 says the Word made everything that was made. This confirms that “the Word” and “the Son” are one and the same.

I and my Father are one (John 10:30).

These are the words of Jesus Himself and the controversy is over the Greek word translated “one”. Here’s the position of those who deny the deity of Jesus.

“John 10:30 is quite a controversial verse however when you read it in the Greek you learn that the Greeks have different words for the word one. There is a word for one in the same and a word for one in purpose. The Greek word used here is the word for one in purpose not one in the same.”

Every major English translation agrees that this verse says, “I and the Father are one”. The Greek word translated “one” in this verse was used to say the number one when counting in Greek. A plain sense reading of the verse indicates that Jesus was saying He and the Father are one. Most Bibles offer no further explanation or clarification, indicating the verse means what it says. Only those who deny the deity of Jesus have trouble accepting this. And remember, the Jews wanted Jesus put to death for claiming to be God, not for claiming to have the same goals or purpose as God.

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:9)

This verse confirms Paul’s statement in Colossians 1:15 above and the statement in Hebr. 1:3 that, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” Jesus plainly told Philip that He is the visible form of the invisible God. But the naysayers use their interpretation of John 10:30 to justify their claim that in John 14:9 Jesus really meant we can see God in the works of Jesus Christ.

But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom (Hebr. 1:8).

This is God speaking about His son. Again, all the major translations are nearly identical and they all capitalize “God” to indicate the fact that the Father considers the Son to be a deity. Here’s the opposing view.

“Hebrew 1:8 is also very controversial however if you look at the previous context you can see the distinction between God and Christ. Calling someone god is actually an eastern custom. Moses was called a god in Exodus 7:1 and the children of God were also called gods in Psalms 82:6. Calling someone god is a form of respect when someone holds a high place of office. In the East servants to this day call their king lord or god. Wives also in the east refer to their husbands as lord. So calling Jesus God in this verse is just a misunderstanding from not recognizing eastern customs.”

Notice the writer of this opinion used the lower case “god” in every instance except where he was speaking of God the Father, and remember that in every translation of Hebr. 1:8 the word God is capitalized when speaking of the Son.

In the King James version of Exodus 7:1 God said when Moses went before Pharaoh with his brother Aaron, he would be “a god” (lower case “g”) to Pharaoh and Aaron would be his prophet. Other translations say he would be “as” God or “like God”. The idea here is that God was sending Moses in His place, and Aaron would speak for Moses like a prophet speaks for God. Moses was not being called God.

In Psalm 82:6 the word “god” appears in reference to the Israelites. Again note the lower case, which means it refers to a “ruler or judge”. And if you read the whole Psalm you’ll see how sarcastic God is being there. In the first verse, He referred to Himself as “God” who gives judgment among the “gods”. Then He accused them of faulty and corrupt practices and warned them to start defending the cause of the less fortunate among them and start showing mercy. In verses 6-7 He said, “You are gods but you will die like mere men, you will fall like every other ruler.” No one believes God was addressing the Israelites as deity.

It’s true that the word “Lord” is used as a term of respect for rulers, judges and perhaps even husbands in various parts of the world. But no one in these places believes the one they’re addressing is the God of the universe. The claim that a literal interpretation of Hebrews 1:8 is incorrect due to a misunderstanding of Eastern customs is an argument without merit.

I began by showing that Jesus could only be qualified to serve as the perfect sacrifice required to save us if He actually is God in human form. Now we see the testimony of John (John 1:1-2) Paul (Colossians 1:15-16) Jesus (John 10:30, John 14:9) the writer of Hebrews (Hebr. 1:3) and God Himself (Hebr. 1:8) all saying that’s the case.

I’ve said before that I don’t think you have to believe Jesus is God in human form before you can ask Him to save you. But the Bible is clear that after you’re saved you should come to understand that’s who He is. Because of the increasing presence of false teaching in the Church today and the lack of emphasis on personal study, many are not aware of the fact that it took the sacrifice of God himself to save them. When asked about it they can only repeat what they’ve heard, and sadly much of what they’ve heard is not consistent with sound doctrine.

If what you’ve read here is new information for you, I urge you to look up the references I’ve cited and study them for yourself. Paul warned us not to risk our eternal destiny on the opinions of others, but to search the Scriptures daily to see if what they say is true (Acts 17:11). It’s too important to take anyone else’s word for it. Selah 06-08-13

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The Parable of the Lost Sheep

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not 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.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

The Parable of the Lost Coin

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

The Parable of the Lost Son

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ” (Luke 15:3-32)

What’s Going On Here?

The Pharisees and Teachers of the Law were muttering among themselves, criticizing the Lord for fraternizing with sinners. They believed that even acknowledging a sinner’s presence was wrong, and sharing a meal with a one was a sign of acceptance to be avoided at all costs. Guilt by association, they called it. It’s an attitude that’s still around. Go bankrupt, get a divorce, or even lose your job and you’ll soon find out who your friends are. If you’re lucky, one or two will come around. The rest will avoid you like the plague, as if your condition is contagious and they might catch it.

The so-called righteous people of the day placed little or no value on the lives of sinners, believing their behavior had rendered them undeserving of any effort toward reconciliation. So Jesus told them three parables to explain God’s view that sinners were actually of more urgent importance to Him than the righteous.

On one occasion He told them that He had come to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), and on another that it was the sick that needed a doctor, not the healthy. “I have not come to call the righteous,” He said, ” but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32) Now He said, “If you had 100 sheep and one got lost you’d leave the 99 and search for the lost one wouldn’t you? And wouldn’t you be glad when you found it?”

“And suppose you had 10 coins and lost one? Wouldn’t you focus all your efforts on finding it? And when you did wouldn’t you celebrate?”

If they felt that way about material possessions that could easily be replaced, how much more important should a human soul be?

To our Creator each and every life is of infinite value; irreplaceable. He doesn’t desire that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) That’s why there’s more rejoicing in Heaven over redeeming one lost soul than over 99 who never got lost. And that’s why every time a sinner repents and receives the Lord the angels in Heaven sing for joy.

By the way, the Bible only mentions five events that cause the angels to sing. One was when God said, “Let there be light,” and the Earth came to life. Another was when the Lord Jesus was born, and then there’s the arrival of the Church in Heaven, and finally the Lord’s defeat of His enemies at the end of the age. That’s just four other times in all the history of man. But they get plenty of practice, because the fifth one repeats itself every time one of us comes to the Lord. In His view saving a single life ranks right up there with creating and saving the world.

Here’s The Point

But it’s the third parable that must have cut them to the quick, because it highlights the resentment the obedient son felt over the return of the disobedient one.

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in (to the celebration). So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

My guess is that this parable exposed their true motives for ostracizing the sinners among them. They worked hard to keep the Law and took pride in doing a good job. Those who didn’t were being disobedient and deserved to be punished. By shunning them the Pharisees were actually helping the Lord mete out the punishment. This made them feel all the better about themselves. Nothing like being on the Lord’s side to make one feel righteous.

Then comes this itinerant preacher giving these sinners all kinds of attention and actually making them feel good about themselves, giving them hope, and taking away their motivation to clean up their act. It wasn’t fair. The Pharisees worked so hard at being good and these sinners get all the attention. On top of that, the Pharisees labored to earn their ticket to eternity. If the sinners got a free pass, like Jesus seemed to be implying, what kind of example would that set? They were plainly jealous.

And so the Lord softened the blow with the last point in the parable. He had the joyful father say, “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

Rewarding sinners doesn’t penalize the righteous. The Lord doesn’t subscribe to the scarcity mentality that there’s only so much to go around and giving to one means taking from another. For everyone who asks will receive, all who seek will find, and to all who knock the door will be opened (Matt 7:7-8).

And Finally …

It’s easy to spot the Pharisees’ error. They thought salvation was something they could earn, and by attempting to do so they developed a self-righteous attitude that actually placed them further in their debt of sin. The only difference between the Pharisees and the sinners, is that the sinners knew they needed a Savior. But the Lord’s compassion for them, as expressed by the father in the parable to the older son, must have worked. On the Day of Pentecost, the newborn church picked up over 3000 members, many of them Pharisees and Teachers of the Law.

The Pharisees were a group from Biblical times, but they’re not all dead yet. There’s still plenty of that self-righteous “holier than thou” attitude around, and most of us harbor some of it. So next time you feel a little jealous when some undeserving sinner repents and is saved, remember … this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. And in Heaven the angels rejoice. Selah

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Part 5.  The conclusion of Paul’s case against combining Law and Grace

We’ve arrived at the final chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, where Paul has presented a strong case against combining Law and Grace. In effect, he has said the two are like oil and water; they don’t mix. Jesus died to set us free from the Law. Therefore, believers who place themselves under the Law are denying the sufficiency of the cross. A little Law mixed into Grace is like a little yeast mixed into a batch of dough. Both eventually permeate everything and cause irreversible changes.

Galatians 6

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:1-2).

In 1 Cor. 5:1-5 Paul took the Corinthian church to task for allowing a man to carry on a relationship with his father’s wife in their midst. They apparently thought they were expressing the Lord’s love by being tolerant, but he told them such behavior was not acceptable in a Christian fellowship and that as a group they should exclude the man from their fellowship.

Later, in 2 Cor. 2:5-11, Paul said their unified approach to this problem had worked and it was time to forgive and comfort the man and reaffirm their love for him. He said they should do this in order that Satan would not outwit them after all. In other words, their failure to restore him would result in just as much a victory for Satan as their earlier failure to exclude him had been.

Paul’s advice to the Corinthians gives us a model of the proper way for a fellowship to deal with sin in their midst. But in Galatians 6:1-2 he was speaking to individuals. Individual believers are called to gently restore those who are caught in sin, being careful not to become ensnared themselves. In this way, we support each other because none of us can know when we’ll be the ones needing support.

Paul mentioned the “Law of Christ” only here and in 1 Cor 9:21 where Paul said, “To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.”

The Bible offers no specific definition of what Christ’s Law is, but I believe it refers to His statement in John 15:9-12. 

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

In these references, both Paul and Jesus distinguished between the Law of God (my Father’s commands) and the Law of Christ ( Love each other as I have loved you.) Therefore I believe Galatians 6:2 is saying by lending spiritual support to a brother caught in sin and gently restoring Him we are fulfilling the Lord’s command to love each other as He has loved us. He always favors reconciliation and restoration.

If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load. Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor (Galatians 6:3-6).

In these verses Paul identified the temptation he was warning them against in Galatians 6:1-2, and it’s the danger of thinking we’re spiritually superior to the brother or sister we’re trying to restore. Thinking we’re any better than someone else is self-deception. The only valid evaluation is self-evaluation. The exception is when the Lord gives us a deeper understanding of Scripture we’re being taught. In that case, we should share it with our instructor so he or she can benefit from it as well.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers (Galatians 6:7-10).

We’ve all heard Galatians 6:7 used out of context. Now let’s learn what it really means. Paul had to be warning us that adopting an attitude of spiritual superiority in the process of restoring a brother who has sinned turns it into a work of the flesh that mocks God and makes us no better than an unbeliever. Otherwise, his statement here would be in direct contradiction to his other statements that our inheritance is guaranteed from the time we believe (2 Cor. 1:21-22, 2 Cor 5:5, Ephes 1:13-14, Ephes 4:30), and that God does not attribute our sins to us but the sin nature that lives in us (Romans 7:18-20).

We’re accustomed to having our leaders make statements that contradict things they’ve said before, but God is not like that. When He commissioned people to write His word, the Holy Spirit placed in their minds what He wanted them to say (2 Tim. 3:16). That way He could make sure they didn’t contradict themselves or each other.

By lifting Galatians 6:7 out of its context we could conclude that Paul was saying our salvation depends on our behavior and we can’t allow ourselves to grow weary of doing good if we want to reap eternal life. But because of his strong and clear statements about our security in the Lord, we can be sure that’s not what he meant. He had to be speaking in the context of Galatians 6:1-6.

Our motivation in helping others who have slipped or stumbled should always be the desire to do good in the eyes of the Lord. The harvest we will reap by not growing tired of doing good to all people will come in the form of treasure in heaven our good deeds help us accumulate (Matt. 6:19-21).

See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand! (Galatians 6:11).

Paul wanted the Galatian churches to be sure this letter had been written personally by him. He was concerned that his enemies would circulate forgeries in an attempt to lead new believers astray. This actually happened in Thessalonica. Between Paul’s first and second letters, the Thessalonians had received a forgery saying the Day of the Lord had already come (2 Thes. 2:1-2). 2^nd Thessalonians is Paul’s rebuttal to that forgery. Because of his poor eyesight, Paul usually had someone like Timothy write for him, but when he wanted there to be no doubt as to the authorship of a message, he wrote it himself.

Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.  Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh.  May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation (Galatians 6:12-15).

As we know, the Judaizers who hounded Paul and tried to undo his teaching on Grace were also converts to Christianity. Many were Pharisees who were trying to combine Judaism and Christianity. Teaching this kind of hybrid theology kept them out of trouble with Jewish congregations they visited; the kind of trouble Paul always encountered on his visits to them.

Paul was reminding the Galatians that the Judaizers who were trying to bring them under the Law were unable to keep the Law themselves. This is because the Law is impossible to keep. But causing the Galatians to be circumcised allowed the Judaizers to show tangible results for their efforts.

Paul was not concerned about keeping score on Earth. He rightly said that whether a man is circumcised or not means nothing in the eternal sense. What matters is whether a man is a new creation in Christ because that is what allows him to inherit eternal life.

Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God. From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.(Galatians 6:16-18)

The rule Paul was referring to is, “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation”.

Paul explained his phrase “the Israel of God” in Romans 2:28-29.

A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

Being physically circumcised identified a man as being of Jewish descent, but it did not mean he was saved. What identifies a person as being saved is the Holy Spirit dwelling within him, which Paul described as having one’s heart circumcised. Invisible to other people, this form of circumcision is visible to God, the only One who matters. This is what makes us Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:29).

Although Paul was circumcised, the physical marks he wanted to be known for were the scars he bore as a result of the beatings he had taken because of his faith in Jesus.

Paul closed his letter to the Galatians in the manner unique to him, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.”

In summary, let’s review Paul’s case.

Any so-called gospel message that contradicts the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith alone as presented in Paul’s letters is by definition a different gospel and puts those who teach it under a curse that dooms them to destruction.

Whether Jew or Gentile, we are not justified (rendered righteous) by the works of the Law but by faith in Jesus Christ. We know that Paul was not trying to marginalize the Law because in places like Romans 7:12 he said the Law is holy, righteous and good. But he was arguing against the improper use of the Law as the basis by which we are made acceptable to God. We are not justified by observing the Law but by faith in the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Law cannot be fully obeyed. In order to be strict enough for God’s requirements, it has to be too strict for man’s abilities. Therefore, all who rely on the law are automatically cursed and cannot be justified before God.

Because of the cross, there is no longer any reason for anyone to go under the Law. God does not require it, and we cannot benefit from doing it. On the contrary, it could be counterproductive for us, a step backward in our spiritual growth.

That’s because we don’t get to decide which parts of the Law we want to obey. Picking any part of it obligates us to all of it. And the Law is not just the 10 Commandments. The Torah contains 613 commandments.

That means you can’t have a little bit of Law mixed with Grace. Just as a little bit of yeast will permeate the whole batch of dough to change its composition, a little bit of Law will work its way through the doctrine of Grace, changing it into something it was not intended to be. In effect, the Law cancels Grace.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. But in exercising that freedom we are to be aware of two statements the Lord made. First, He said the entire Law could be summarized in two commandments. One, we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and two, we are to love our neighbor as ourself (Luke 10:27). Second, He said He was giving us a new commandment, “Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

These are not things we do to justify ourselves before God. We are already justified by faith in the Lord’s atoning sacrifice on our behalf. These are things we do as a way of expressing our gratitude for what the Lord has done for us. So if you’re looking for some laws to keep so you can express your gratitude for the free gift of salvation without any risk of getting into trouble, these are the ones to keep. 06-13-14

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Part 4 of Paul’s case against combining the Law and Grace

By now you know that Paul’s letter to the Galatians was a vigorous rebuttal to the claims of the so-called Judaizers, Jewish Christians who taught that Gentiles desiring to become Christians had to put themselves under the Law and be circumcised to be saved.

As I said at the beginning of this series, the same teaching is once again coming into the Church. Among other things, this teaching stresses keeping the Saturday Sabbath, celebrating the Jewish feasts and festivals, and observing the Jewish dietary laws. On one hand, those who teach this deny that it constitutes a return to Jewish legalism, but is a demonstration of love and obedience instead.  But on the other hand, they teach that every Christian must be “Torah observant” to live a life that pleases God. (Being Torah observant means obeying the Law of Moses contained in the first five books of the Bible. In Hebrew these five books are called the Torah.)

Therefore Paul’s letter is as timely today as it was when Paul wrote it almost 2,000 years ago. We’ll continue our study now by taking up chapter 5, which in my Bible is subtitled “Freedom in Christ.”

Galatians 5

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:1-6)

First, Paul said it is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

To the Jews who believed in Him Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).

Since the Law cannot provide a remedy for our sins but can only make us conscious of them (Romans 3:20),  anyone who is under the Law remains a prisoner of the Law and a slave to sin. By paying the penalty for our violations of the Law, the Son of God has set us free from the Law. And when the Son sets us free we are free indeed (John 8:36).

Then Paul made another powerful claim that sets the tone for the entire chapter. He said, “You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.”

In several other places Paul wrote that our eternal inheritance is guaranteed from the time we believe (2 Cor. 1:21-22, 2 Cor. 5:5, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 4:30). Therefore he had to be saying that the Galatians who were being enticed to go under the law were never saved in the first place. Otherwise, he would have been contradicting himself.

The Greek word translated fallen away here is not the more familiar apostasia, but ekpipto. One of its meanings is to fall from a place which one cannot keep. The only way we can keep our position of grace is through faith. Paul was claiming that the Galatians who were going under the Law never had the faith to be saved by grace. We are either forever saved or we were never saved.

Paul warned the Galatians that while neither circumcision nor uncircumcision was relevant in and of itself, it was being proposed to them as a sign of their acceptance of the Old Covenant. Therefore agreeing to it would obligate them to the whole Law.

This is an important point. We don’t get to decide which parts of the Law we want to obey. Picking any part of it obligates us to all of it. And the Law is not just the 10 Commandments. The Torah contains 613 commandments.

Attempting to keep the Law to justify ourselves before the Lord alienates us from Him because it denies what He’s done for us. It makes His death of no value, leaving us responsible for saving ourselves. Remember, it wasn’t the fact that the Jews had orchestrated the death of Jesus that caused their alienation from God. After all, He came to die for their sins. It was the fact that by rejecting His death as payment in full for their sins they made it meaningless to them, of less value than the animals they continued to sacrifice, that broke the relationship.

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! (Galatians 5:7-12)

You can’t have a little bit of Law mixed with Grace. Just as a little bit of yeast will permeate the whole batch of dough to change its composition, a little bit of Law will work its way through the doctrine of Grace, changing it into something it was not intended to be. When Paul said, in that case, the offense of the cross has been abolished, he meant the Law cancels Grace.

(The Judaizers were hinting that Paul preached the Law among Jews but switched to a watered down version of the Gospel when speaking to Gentiles. His response was, “If I’m preaching the Law to the Jews then why are they persecuting me?” His frustration with them is evident.)

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. (Galatians 5:13-15)

Paul’s comments on “serving one another in love” and “loving your neighbor as yourself” tell us he was especially concerned about the Galatians’ arguments over Law vs. Grace. Their freedom was not an excuse to be argumentative to the point of sinfulness.  He called it “biting and devouring each other” and said that being in Christ meant they were free from the Law, but even the Law agreed they shouldn’t behave that way.

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. (Galatians 5:16-18)

If we let the Holy Spirit guide us, our sin nature will not be able to rule our lives. But it’s an either /or situation because the two are opposed to each other and will never agree on what’s proper behavior for us. If we let our sinful nature guide our behavior we will invariably wind up doing things we don’t want to do. Even so, if we are led by the Spirit we don’t need the Law to govern our behavior.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21).

Please read these next few sentences carefully. Nowhere does the Bible ever accuse the Pharisees of committing the sins Paul listed here. In fact, by human standards their behavior was exemplary. And yet, Jesus said unless our righteousness surpasses theirs we will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:20). No matter how good we think someone’s behavior is, unless that person is also born again, he or she cannot enter the kingdom (John 3:3). We’re saved because of what we believe, not because of how we behave.

Notice, Paul didn’t say “believers who practice the acts of the sinful nature,” in Galatians 5:21, he said, “those who practice the acts of the sinful nature.”

Also, when you see the word “practice” think of the doctor who practices medicine or the lawyer who practices law.  They are immersed in their professions all day every day.  This is what I think Paul meant by “those who practice the acts of the sinful nature.”  They are immersed in a sinful lifestyle all day every day.

Every believer has repeatedly committed one or more of the sins mentioned in Galatians 5:16-21, and Paul spoke of his own struggle with sin in Romans 7:14-20.  Therefore,  if he had meant to condemn every believer who sins he would have to condemn himself as well.  But in Romans 8:1 he said, “Therefore  there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

I believe Paul was referring to people who sin without regard for what the Bible says about it.  In my opinion, these people identify themselves as non-believers, because while I’ve never met a true believer who has no struggle with sin, neither have I met one who had a complete disregard for his or her sinfulness. The Holy Spirit convicts believers when we sin, and that conviction brings remorse which leads us to confession. Knowing how we’ll feel after we sin is part of what leads us to struggle against our inherent sinfulness.  Non-believers don’t feel any of that.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Galatians 5:22-26)

The differences between the acts of the sin nature and the fruit of the Spirit can be seen in the comparison of these two passages. In reading the first one we can all admit to periodically doing one or more of these things as believers, even though we strive to be led by the Spirit. In Romans 7:18-20 Paul said from God’s perspective when that happens, it’s not us but our sinful nature that’s to blame when this happens.

King David foresaw the incredible gift of Grace when he wrote,

Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit (Psalm 32:1-2).

Paul’s final words on the subject, to not become conceited, provoking and envying each other, confirm that he has been especially concerned about their arguing over who was right, Paul or the Judaizers. He said those Galatians who belonged to Christ should live by the Spirit and not become conceited but should stop provoking and envying each other. These are acts prompted by the sin nature and are not appropriate for believers.

Remember, the Law was only given to point out our sins and no one can be saved by keeping it (Romans 3:20). But through faith, we can achieve a righteousness apart from the Law and be saved (Romans 3:21-24). So there is only one way to live one’s life with the assurance of pardon, and that’s by Grace through faith. We can’t have it both ways.  If we’re under the Law we can not benefit from God’s grace. If we’re under Grace, the Law is not necessary. We’ll conclude this study next week. 12-06-14

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Part 3 of Paul’s case against combining the Law and Grace

Paul has been showing the Galatians that all believers in Jesus are children of God. We are also descendants of Abraham, and heirs according to the promise God gave to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him. This blessing would come in the person of Jesus, also a descendant of Abraham, who would make it possible for the Gentiles to be justified by faith. Although the promise came before the Law was given, its fulfillment came later. In the interim, the Law was given to God’s people as a guardian. Now let’s resume our study with chapter 4.

Galatians 4

What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world (Galatians 4:1-3).

Paul compared the time between the giving of the promise and its fulfillment to the life of an underage heir, subject to guardians and trustees. Even though the heir really owns everything, he is not authorized to exercise any control over anything before reaching a certain age. Until then guardians and trustees appointed to act on his behalf control everything, and the heir has no more power than a slave would have.

So it was in the time between the giving of the promise to Abraham and its fulfillment in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The Law was given as a guardian for the people. It controlled every aspect of their lives and they had no more control than slaves. In effect they went from being prisoners of sin to being prisoners of the Law.

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because we are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir (Galatians 4:4-7).

In both the Greek and Roman cultures, when an heir came of age, there was a formal adoption ceremony where he legally became a son, entitled to all of a son’s rights and privileges including the right of inheritance. After that, there were no more guardians or trustees telling the heir what he could or could not do. He was authorized to act on his own.

When Jesus came to redeem those who were held prisoners under the Law, God authorized everyone who believed in His Son to receive the full rights of adoption. John was speaking of this when he said, “To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, or human decision, or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:13-14). We call this being born again.

Paul made this even clearer when he said because of our faith we have been legally adopted into God’s family, signified by the seal of the Holy Spirit guaranteeing our inheritance. The Law no longer serves as a guardian telling us what we can or cannot do. We have the full rights of sonship including the right of inheritance, which is eternal life. Therefore, there is no longer any reason for anyone to go under the Law. God does not require it, and we cannot benefit from doing it. On the contrary, it could be counterproductive for us, a step backward in our spiritual growth.

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you (Galatians 4:8-11)

In their pagan past, the Galatians had worshiped things they thought were gods. When they became believers they realized their former gods couldn’t save anyone. But Paul said that by going under the Law they were repeating their previous mistakes. The rituals they were following now were different but they produced the same result—enslavement. Instead of obligating themselves to observe the pagan festivals of their past they were obligating themselves to observe the Jewish festivals instead.

I have said before that there is great value in learning about the Feasts of Israel, especially as they reveal God’s prophetic plan. Seeing how the first coming of Jesus was clearly foretold in the spring feasts, the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and the second coming in the fall feasts gives us an overview of God’s plan for all of mankind. But even if we only put ourselves under obligation to the Law out of “obedience” while claiming to be saved by grace, we’re doing something God neither commands nor desires for us.

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul cautioned his readers not to let anyone judge them by what they eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration or a Sabbath day. He said they were a shadow of things to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ (Colossians 2:16-17).

I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong. As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? (Galatians 4:12-16).

The account in Acts 13-14 of Paul’s time with the Galatians makes no mention of this illness so we don’t know what it was. From extra Biblical sources I’ve read that the journey from the Mediterranean coast to the inland region of Galatia was an exhausting one, over rough terrain and fraught with danger, and one of these sources suggested that Paul suffered a bout of malaria as a result. Others say that because of Paul’s reference to the Galatians being willing to give him their eyes, it could have been eye trouble.

But Paul’s point was not the illness, it was the change in their attitude toward him. It looked to him like the Judaizers had succeeded in turning the Galatians against Paul. Remember, they said he was not an authentic apostle and accused him of giving the Galatians a watered down version of the Gospel in order to convert them.

Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you! (Galatians 4:17-20).

Imagine the frustration Paul must have felt. After spending nearly two years in the region (46-48AD), much of it in Galatia, Paul and Barnabas had returned to Syrian Antioch. It was now several years later, and He was responding to reports that the Judaizers had undone much of his work, teaching the Galatians to abandon the doctrine of Grace and submit to the Law.

There was no love lost between Paul and the Judaizers. In 2 Cor. 11:13-15 he said,

For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

From his comments about still being in the pains of childbirth for the Galatians, it sounds like he’s wondering if they had ever experienced a new birth in the first place. He was obviously very concerned about the spiritual condition of people who, having been saved by Grace, would voluntarily go under the Law.

Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.  His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise (Galatians 4:21-23).

Paul will now use three pairs of symbols to show the difference between Law and Grace; two sons, two women, and two cities. One son (Ishmael) was born in the natural way to a slave woman (Hagar). The other son (Isaac) was born according to a divine promise to the free woman (Sarah). Before you suggest that Isaac was also the result of natural childbirth, remember that Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born and Sarah was 90 (Genesis 17:15-17). Ishmael, whose mother Hagar was of childbearing age, was born in the natural way. But it’s no stretch of the imagination to say that Isaac, whose mother Sarah was long past childbearing age, was the result of a supernatural birth, the fulfillment of a promise God made to Abraham. This is just one way in which Isaac was a foreshadowing of Jesus.

These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written:

“Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.” (Galatians 4:24-27)

And finally, the two cities. Hagar, the slave woman, represents Jerusalem, the city of those who are enslaved by the Law. Sarah, the free woman, represents the New Jerusalem, the city of the redeemed Church, saved by grace and free from the law.

Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. (Galatians 4:28-31)

In this example, Hagar and Ishmael represent the Law and its children. Ishmael persecuted Isaac, and along with his mother was sent away, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son (Genesis 21:8-14). Sarah and Isaac represent Grace and it’s children. The Law persecutes Grace and has been sent away, for the Law will never share in the inheritance of eternal life with Grace. The children of Grace have become the sole heirs of eternal life. We are those children.

It’s important to remember that although obedience to the Law was required in the Old Testament, it was powerless to save the people because they could never meet the standards it demanded. The requirement for obedience was intended to demonstrate that fact. In Romans 3:20 Paul said, “No one will be declared righteous by observing the Law; rather through the Law we become conscious of sin.”

Without the belief in a coming Redeemer who would pay the penalty for their sins, no one could be saved by obeying the Law. The children of the Law will never share in the inheritance with the children of the promise.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6).  No matter what we were before, Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free, if we are in Christ we are a new creation. The old has gone the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17). If we belong to Christ, we are Abraham’s descendants and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:29). See you next time. 11-29-14.

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Part 2 of Paul’s case against combining the Law and Grace

In part 1 we established that the primary purpose of this letter was to contend against a group called the Judaizers, early Jewish Christians who taught that Gentile converts to Christianity also had to observe certain Old Testament rites, specifically circumcision. Some even argued that the only way for a Gentile to become a Christian was to first convert to Judaism and go under the Law.

In response, Paul presented a powerful defense of the essential New Testament truth that we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone. We do not sanctify ourselves by religious works or Jewish legalism, but are sanctified by faith in the grace and power of God, made manifest in the work of Jesus Christ, and energized in our life by the Holy Spirit.

There are many in the Church who need to be reminded of this today since modern-day Judaizers are once again teaching their followers the same things Paul fought against in his time. These teachers claim that Christ’s death on the cross did not end the Mosaic Covenant, but instead renewed it, and stress the need for every believer to live a Torah-observant life. Among other things, this includes keeping the Saturday Sabbath, celebrating the Jewish feasts and festivals, and observing the Jewish dietary laws. They advocate learning to understand the Scriptures from a Hebrew mindset, and some have rejected the traditional Greek based New Testament, claiming that Aramaic texts are older and more accurate.

On one hand, they deny that doing this constitutes a return to Jewish legalism, but is a demonstration of love and obedience instead.  But on the other hand, they teach that to live a life that pleases God, this Torah-observant walk must be part of every Christian’s life.

With that, let’s continue our study of Paul’s Letter to the Galatians with chapter 3.

Galatians 3

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.  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?  Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain?  So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?   (Galatians 3:1-5)

Paul knew who had bewitched the Galatians. It was a group of Judaizers who had visited the Galatian churches. They showed up after Paul left, teaching these new Gentile Christians that Paul had not given them the whole story. If they wanted to be accepted as followers of Jesus they had to put themselves under the Law.

Paul asked the Galatians a question that many believers need to be asked today. After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? (Galatians 3:3).

Variations on the “saved by grace, kept by works” theme have been around throughout the Church Age. They all imply that Jesus only began the work of our salvation, and it’s up to us to complete or maintain it through human effort. But in Hebrews 7:25 we’re told that because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Paul reminded the Galatians how they came to receive the Holy Spirit and witness God’s miraculous work. It didn’t happen because they were obedient to the Law. At the time they hadn’t been told they needed to obey the Law. It happened because they believed the Gospel.

So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.  Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”  So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith (Galatians 3:6-9).

The statement that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness is a quote from Genesis 15:6. Abraham was and is known primarily as the father of the Jewish people. But Paul said that all who rely on faith, Jew or Gentile, are Abraham’s children, And in another remarkable insight into Scripture, Paul said God was announcing the gospel with its justification by faith to Abraham when He said, “All nations will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). The blessing that would come to all nations would be the same justification by faith that Abraham enjoyed.

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law” (Deut. 27:26).  Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4).”  The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them (Lev. 18:5).”  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree” (Deut. 21:23). He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit (Galatians 3:10-14).

The Law cannot be fully obeyed. In order to be strict enough for God’s requirements, it has to be too strict for man’s abilities. Therefore, all who rely on the law are automatically cursed and cannot be justified before God. James said, “Whoever keeps the whole Law and yet stumbles on just one part of it is guilty of breaking all of it (James 2:10). By taking all of our violations of the Law upon Himself Jesus became a curse for us and redeemed us from the curse of the Law. This made God’s promise to Abraham available to all who believe. Therefore, like Abraham, our belief is credited to us as righteousness.

Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise (Galatians 3:15-18).

Once a contract has been agreed to it becomes binding and can’t be changed without the mutual consent of the parties. Therefore God’s promise to Abraham could not be set aside by the Law, which came later. God’s covenant with Abraham included a promise that called for a descendant of Abraham’s to be the one through whom all nations would be blessed. God didn’t say “descendants”, which would have included all Jewish people, but “ descendant” which pointed to one Jewish man, Jesus.

Let’s summarize what we’ve read so far. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. When God promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him, He meant that one of Abraham’s descendants (Jesus) would make it possible for God to justify the Gentiles by faith. Therefore, He was announcing the Gospel in advance. The Law, which was given later, could not change or cancel this promise.

Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator.  A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one (Galatians 3:18-20).

In Romans 3: 20 Paul put it this way. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by obeying the Law; rather through the law we become conscious of sin. If we’re driving on a highway at 70 miles per hour and there is no posted speed limit, we can’t tell if we’re speeding or not. But if we see a sign that tells us the speed limit is 65 then we become aware of the fact that we are speeding. In like manner, the Law is a sign that tells us whether we’re sinning.

The Law was a contract between God and Israel (Exodus 19:5-6), and established the conditions under which they would be able to enjoy the benefits of the land He was giving them. The land was theirs forever (Genesis 13:15), but to live there in peace and plenty they had to obey the Law. This was how God would deal with their sins until Jesus came. The mediator was Moses and God was one party. The other party was Israel.

Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.  But Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe (Galatians 3:21-22).

The Law is only a shadow of the things that were to come (Hebr. 10:1). The reality, however, is Christ (Col. 2:17) The Law is not opposed to the promise, it’s purpose was to help God’s people maintain their relationship with Him until the promise was fulfilled. The Law can’t give us life because we’re prisoners of sin. Sin is our natural state and it prevents us from obeying the Law. Therefore, life can only come to us by faith in the promise, fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.  So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.  Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian (Galatians 3:23-25).

The Law put very tight constraints on behavior such as a guardian might place on a child. But now that we are justified by faith, we don’t need a guardian. Our position before the Lord is based on what we believe not on how we behave. Our behavior is a sign of our gratitude.

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)

Our belief in Jesus gives us the right to be born again as children of God (John 1:12-13). No matter who we were before, if we’re in Christ we are God’s children and that makes us heirs to the promise God made to Abraham. Like him, we are justified by faith because our belief has been credited to us as righteousness.

We now see that the promise of justification by faith alone predated the giving of the Law by over 400 years. Once the Lord came to fulfill the promise, the Law was no longer necessary. It was a shadow of the good things that were coming, but the reality is Christ.

The Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). Through Him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39). See you next time. 11-22-14

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Today we begin a study of Paul’s letter to the Galatians which I’ve subtitled “The Case Against Combining Law And Grace.” Scholars are divided as to the date of this letter. Some place it in the late 40s and others in the early 50s. Either way it one of Paul’s earliest letters, perhaps even his first, and predated the Council of Jerusalem where the issue of Gentile converts to Christianity was the main agenda item (Acts 15).

The primary purpose of this letter was to contend against a group called the Judaizers. This group was early Jewish Christians who taught that Gentile converts to Christianity also had to observe certain Old Testament rites, specifically circumcision. Some even argued the only way for a Gentile to become a Christian was to first convert to Judaism, be circumcised, and go under the Law.

The Judaizers said Paul was not an authentic apostle but a false teacher who, in order to make the gospel more acceptable to Gentiles, had ignored the legal requirements of Judaism in his presentations. They felt it was their responsibility to follow Paul around and explain the “real gospel” to the Gentile churches he had planted.

One of the things that prompted me to undertake this study now is the growing number of comments I’ve received from certain elements in Christianity voicing those same opinions today, and for the same reason. Some Christians are once again claiming that we are obligated to observe Old Testament rites and regulations and that Paul was not an authentic apostle.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul presented a powerful defense of the essential New Testament truth that we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone. We do not sanctify ourselves by religious works or Jewish legalism, but are sanctified by faith in the grace and power of God, made manifest in the work of Jesus Christ, and energized in our life by the Holy Spirit.

This will be an in-depth study of the Letter to the Galatians and we’ll need several installments to get through it, so let’s get started.

Galatians 1

Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—and all the brothers and sisters with me,

To the churches in Galatia:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen (Galatians 1:1-5).

Acts 13-14 records the churches of Galatia as Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. They were all geographically located in the south-central part of what was then the Roman province of Galatia, known today as Turkey.

The Greek word translated apostle means a delegate or messenger, one sent forth with orders. Paul always took pains to say he was not appointed an apostle by men but by the Lord Himself.

According to Acts 13:2 the Holy Spirit commissioned Paul and Barnabas to begin their first missionary journey and led them to Cyprus and then into the cities of Galatia where they formed the churches mentioned above.

Paul’s letter was his response to the Galatian churches concerning the Judaizers who visited these churches after he left.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! (Galatians 1:6-9)

Pay attention to what Paul said here. He pronounced a curse on anyone who tries to promote a gospel other than the one he has presented. Some translations render this as Paul saying, “Let him be eternally condemned.” The Greek word is anathema and means cursed, doomed to destruction.

We would expect him to come out strongly against the pagan religions that were prevalent at the time, but that’s not what we’re dealing with here. Paul said any so-called gospel message that contradicts the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith alone as presented in his letters is by definition a different gospel and puts those who teach it under a curse that dooms them to destruction. That means they aren’t saved, nor can they be. Where did he get the authority to say something like that?

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:10-12).

Paul said what has become known as the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith came straight to him from the Lord Himself. That’s where he got his authority.

For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers (Galatians 1:13-14).

Paul was a Pharisee, taught by Gamaliel who was one of the most highly regarded teachers of the time.  Paul was a rising star in Judaism who was gaining a reputation as a relentless pursuer of the followers of Jesus, showing no mercy to those he apprehended.

But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus (Galatians 1:15-17).

One of the great fears of the day in Jerusalem was that belief in Jesus would spread to Damascus, a major commercial hub in the region. It was feared that if this new faith took root there it would quickly spread in all directions and there would be no stopping it. Paul agreed to go to Damascus to make sure that didn’t happen. He was on the way when He had a personal encounter with the risen Lord that changed everything. Instead of rounding up the believers in Damascus when he got there, he began teaching that Jesus is the Son of God, which so angered the Jews that they conspired to kill him.

With the help of friends, Paul escaped from Damascus and traveled into Arabia. Some say he went to Mt. Sinai and stayed in the same cave Elijah had used during his time on the mountain of God (1 Kings 19:8-9). If so, the place where Moses received the Law would have been the same place where Paul received his revelation from the Lord concerning the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. After that Paul returned to Damascus where he continued teaching.

Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie (Galatians 1:18-20).

Paul is going to great lengths here to differentiate himself from the Judaizers. They were simply repeating the traditions they had been taught by men. But Paul was sent by God with a gospel he received directly from the Lord Jesus.

Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised God because of me (Galatians 1:21-24).

Paul visited Syrian Antioch and Tarsus in Cilicia, the city of his birth. While he was in Tarsus, Barnabas came to visit him from Antioch and took him back there. Together they spent a year teaching and ministering to the believers in Antioch. It was there that believers were first called Christians. And it was from there that Paul and Barnabas would later begin their missionary journey into Galatia under the call of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:2).

Galatians 2

Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you (Galatians 2:1-5).

Apparently, the Lord told Paul to meet with the Church leaders in Jerusalem to confirm that the Judaizers were not speaking on behalf of the Church in Jerusalem. This is an interesting point. Paul was given a direct revelation from the Lord about the gospel he was to preach (Galatians 1:12). Even so, he was sent to the Church leadership for confirmation. Remember that the next time someone tells you he or she has a word from the Lord for you. Always seek confirmation. Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deut. 19:15, 2 Cor. 13:1).

As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message. On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Peter and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along (Galatians 2:6-11).

Paul’s revelation having been confirmed, he returned to Antioch and continued his work there.

When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray (Galatians 2:11-13).

There were six cities named Antioch in Biblical times. Of those, two are named in the Bible, Pisidian Antioch, the location of one of the churches in Galatia, and this one, sometimes called Syrian Antioch. It was the third most prominent city in the Roman Empire, behind Rome and Alexandria.

By the phrase “certain men from James” Paul meant Jewish Christians from Jerusalem. Some commentators identify these men as Judaizers but I don’t think so because Paul said they came from James. As we saw above, James and the other leaders had already confirmed Paul’s teaching. More likely they were Jewish Christians who were there on an official visit from Jerusalem. But either way, their presence caused Peter, Barnabas, and other Jewish believers, who had been fraternizing with the Gentile believers, to withdraw from them and resume their tradition of separation. Paul saw this as hypocrisy and called them on it.

When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:14-16).

Three times in two verses Paul stated in no uncertain terms that whether Jew or Gentile, we are not justified (rendered righteous) by the works of the Law but by faith in Jesus Christ. We know that Paul was not trying to marginalize the Law because in places like Romans 7:12 he said the Law is holy, righteous and good. But he was arguing against the improper use of the Law as the basis by which we are made acceptable to God. We are not justified by observing the Law but by faith in the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-24).

“But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:17-21).

I’m convinced that learning how the Levitical Feasts were observed in Biblical times, and how Jewish wedding customs provide insight into the relationship between the Lord and His Church, can be very helpful to our spiritual growth. I myself have benefited greatly from doing so. But for anyone who believes that keeping the Law is a necessary component of their salvation, I pray this study will convince them otherwise. Because if righteousness could be gained through the Law, Christ died for nothing.

So far Paul has made some pretty strong statements against combining Law and Grace, but as we’ll see next time, he’s just getting started. See you then. 11-15-14

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This verse from the old hymn obviously refers to the Lord in His position as King of Kings. But did you know that you may also receive multiple crowns? There are five types of crowns mentioned in the New Testament that will be given to qualifying believers immediately after the Rapture. These crowns are identified as the Everlasting Crown (Victory) in 1 Cor 9:25, the Crown of the Soul Winner in Phil 4:1 and 1 Thes 2:19, the Crown of Righteousness in 2 Tim 4:8, the Crown of Life in Jas 1:12 and Rev 2:10, and the Crown of Glory in 1 Peter 5:4.

And You Thought the Emmys Were Something

The Awards Ceremony described in 1 Cor 3:10-15 clearly distinguishes these crowns from the free gift of Salvation by sequence and purpose.  Our Salvation is granted at the moment of belief (Ephe 1:13-14) before any good or bad behavior has occurred, and marks the beginning of our new life. The events of 1 Cor 3:10-15 take place on the believers’ Judgment Day, after the rapture, and reflect the fruits of our Christian life.  (It’s important to remember that everyone involved in this ceremony is a believer).  Simply put, salvation is the gift at the beginning that makes it possible for us to earn the crown at the end.

The requirements are simple. If the motives of our heart are pure when we perform certain “acts of righteousness,” we may be earning one or more of these special rewards. But if there’s any thought of personal recognition or of earning some special credit for ourselves, we’re disqualified. The Lord told us in no uncertain terms; if we perform for the praise of men, we’ve gotten all the credit we’re going to get. We’ll receive no reward from the Lord.  But if we keep our good deeds secret He who sees all things will remember and reward us (Matt 6:1-4).

Matters of the Heart

The only acceptable motive in earning these crowns is what I call an “attitude of gratitude.”  This attitude motivates selfless acts of love, performed for no other reason than to express the gratitude we feel for the free gift of salvation we’ve received.  Both the reactions of others and the observable outcome of our efforts are irrelevant.  It’s one of the few areas of our life where we’re not held accountable for results.  The motive of our heart is the only thing that matters.

I’m persuaded that the Lord’s ways are so different from ours, and our motives are so difficult for us to discern, that it’s hard to tell what crowns we may be earning.  And this goes double where the motives of others are concerned. Hence Paul’s admonition in 1 Cor 4:5.

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

Only the Lord is capable of judging the quality of of our works.  The things of which we’re proudest could be burned up in the fire, while little acts of kindness we don’t even remember could sparkle like precious gems in His eyes.

The Gift and the Prize

Understanding the difference between the Gift we’re given (Salvation) and the Prize we can earn (Crowns) gives us a great advantage in interpreting scriptures that speak of these things. The words themselves hold the clue. One doesn’t earn a gift. It’s freely given out of love with no strings attached. And it’s never taken back. So it is with our salvation.  It is the gift of God (Ephes. 2:8)

A prize  is something you qualify for and work to earn. It’s a reward for behavior, and you have to play by the rules to win.  In  2 Tim. 2:5 Paul wrote, “anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules”.  That’s how it is with our crowns.  And some of them are awarded on the basis of perseverance, requiring us to stay focused to the end.  Jesus said, “Hold on to what you have so that no one will take your crown” (Rev. 3:11).

When you understand that the Bible is God’s Word and therefore can not contradict itself, you know that if He says even once that our salvation is guaranteed, then its guaranteed. He can’t say it is in one place and then say it isn’t in another. If it appears that way, He has to be talking about two different things. And sure enough, He is. When He speaks of the gift of salvation, He says it’s unconditional, based on belief, and guaranteed (Ephes. 1:13-14).   When He speaks of the prizes we can win, He’s speaking of our crowns that are conditional, and require us to maintain certain behavior (Phil 3:13-14).  As an example, in 1 Cor. 9:24-27 Paul talked about bringing his own body under submission so that after preaching to others about the importance of living a victorious Christian life he himself would not be disqualified for the prize.

Where’s My Crown?

By the way, what do you suppose we do with these crowns, once we get them? According to Rev 5:10 we immediately turn and, bowing before His throne, place them at His feet.  In so doing, we acknowledge that even our “acts of righteousness” were made possible because of His gift to us.

If you’re working to earn the gift He’s already offered for free, you’re wasting your time and your life, and missing out on the joy of service. If you’re working to enhance or preserve His gift you risk offending Him, by showing that you think His effort was not sufficient. If you’re overwhelmed by the fact that He has accepted you just as you are, and just can’t restrain yourself; passing His love along every where you go with out any thought of reward, then one day soon He may crown you with many crowns. 08-31-13

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As evening approached the disciples came to Him and said, “This is a remote place and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about 5000 men besides women and children (Matt 14:15-21).

I’m Only Going To Say This Four Times

This is the only miracle Jesus performed before His Resurrection that is included in all the gospels, and so it must be important. Reading all four accounts (the one from Matthew above plus Mark 6:32-44, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:1-13) is necessary to gain the full impact of the story, because each writer included details unique to his version. (For my article on the need for four gospel accounts, read).

The basic premise is laid out in Matthew. There were 5000 men plus an undetermined number of women and children who had followed Jesus into a remote spot having heard that He was in the area. (Remember it was only the Jewish Leadership that rejected Him. He was enormously popular with the people. That’s one of the reasons the leaders feared Him.) Some of the disciples became concerned as evening approached that the people would be hungry and there wouldn’t be anything to give them. They had located 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, only enough for one or two. When Jesus took what they had and gave thanks for it, it became more than enough to feed the entire crowd. 12 baskets full of pieces were left over, more than they had started with.

Look For The Hidden Meaning

The feeding of the 5000 turns out to be as important symbolically as is it is factually. As is frequently the case the numbers given in these accounts are spiritually significant. (I encourage you to undertake a study of the Biblical use of numbers, “Number in Scripture” a book by E.W. Bullinger being a good reference to help get you started.) When the number 5 is used you’ll often find that it’s within the context of a manifestation of the Grace of God, and 2 is the number of witness (Deut. 19:15). 12 is the number of government and often refers to Israel as well. Add to these the fact that Jesus identified Himself as the Bread of Life given for us (John 6:35), and that the fish became the symbol for believers in His Word, a name also used of Him (John 1:1), and the hidden message begins to emerge.

With these insights, we can see the message Jesus was sending: “By the Grace of God you’ll be spiritually fed as the Bread of Life gives Himself to you. The witness of His Word will sustain you and enough of the Bread of Life will be given for all the House of Israel.” Jesus likened this miracle to the giving of the manna in the wilderness, indicating that it was a foreshadowing of Him (John 6:25-40).

Let’s See You Do That Again

By the way, on another occasion Jesus miraculously fed 4000 men plus women and children (Matt 15:29-31, Mark 8:1-10). There they found 7 loaves and a few small fish among the crowd. Again Jesus made it sufficient for all and there were 7 baskets full left over. Four is the number of the Earth because by day 4 the creation of Earth was complete, (Days 5 and 6 deal with populating it) and 7 denotes divine completion, for on the 7th day the creation was finished and God rested from all His work. Here the symbolism denotes that Jesus was giving Himself to all the Earth and there is plenty for everyone’s spiritual hunger to be completely satisfied. Many scholars see this miracle being Gentile in focus while the feeding of 5000 is aimed at Israel. Put the 2 together and see that there’s enough of Him for all the world, Jew and Gentile alike. The Feeding of the 4000 is carried in only 2 gospels, a witness to both Jew and Gentile.

Back To The 5000

In his account of this miracle Mark describes the crowd as being “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34) and mentions that the grass upon which the people were made to sit down was green, recalling the phrase from Psalm 23, “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” And indeed Psalm 23 describes how the Good Shepherd tends His flock. Mark also inserts an additional use of the number 5, describing how the people were organized into groups of 100’s and 50’s.
And incredibly Mark hints that the disciples actually had enough money with them to buy dinner for the entire group (Mark 6:37). So much for the notion that Jesus and His disciples were penniless vagabonds living off the land.

Luke adds what I think is the most fascinating piece of information of all: the location of the miracle. It was near a town called Bethsaida. The name is usually translated “house of fishing” and denotes their proximity to the Sea of Galilee and the town’s major industry. But the Hebrew root words making up Bethsaida provide real insight into God’s sense of humor. Beth is Hebrew for house, and sayid literally means “box lunch.” This miraculous and instantaneous feeding took place near the “House of the Box Lunch” and was perhaps the real origin of the fast food industry (just kidding).

John says that the event took place near the time of the Jewish Passover, explaining why the grass was green (it was spring time) and let’s us in on what Jesus was thinking. Would His disciples who knew Him better than anyone suggest that He had the supernatural power to feed them all or propose a merely human solution? How like us they were. With all the power of the universe in their midst, they could only devise a response based on their own capability (John 6:5-9). John also gives us the crowd’s reaction. “Surely this is the Prophet Who is to come into the world,” they said. Jesus, knowing they intended to come and make Him king by force withdrew again to a mountain by Himself (John 6:14-15). They didn’t understand that Jesus needed to fulfill His role as the Obedient Servant by first dying for their sins before accepting His destiny as King of Kings. Later He accused them of only following Him because He fed them (John 6:26). Sounds like us again.

A Lesson In Nutrition

And so in these miraculous feedings, we see the gospel story told in a truly practical manner. By giving us His Son, our God brings life to all His people Jew and Gentile, completely satisfying our spiritual hunger and sustaining us through the power of His Word. Interesting that bread is a carbohydrate, a type of food that instantly energizes us, while fish, being protein gives us staying power.

Now you know the adult version.

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